Willow Oaks Farm

Dimensions: 24" x 18"
Materials: #3-cut wool on burlap
Designed and hooked by Sarah Lee Province, Silver Spring, Maryland, 1993.
Featured in: Celebration IV

"Willow Oaks Farm was a labor of love to hook for my mother who grew up there and thrived on my grandfather’s dairy farm in Henrico County, Virginia, just outside the city limits of Richmond.  

I didn’t realize the history of the place until I was grown. It was built in 1816 and survived the Civil War. It was said to have bullet (or cannon?) holes in it as the Seven Days Battle took place nearby in 1862. As a child, the adults often spoke of the “battery,” but I didn’t understand that the small banks of earth in the woods surrounding the house were actual battlegrounds. Unfortunately, because of the unsafe wooden structure, the house was torn down in the 1960s.

I used several photographs in my mother’s collection taken at the farm to capture three of her siblings with her in the white dress. My uncle’s tie blowing in the wind gave the scene some movement as well as the dog that belonged to the youngest for whom I was named, Aunt Sarah. I also remembered the old-fashioned pink roses growing on the fence. I love having this pictorial along with Great-Grandma and Grandpa Jones hanging in my living room."
- Sarah Lee Province, Celebration Hall of Fame 2018