(Host)
Earlier this year, as part of a digital storytelling class, Middlebury
College students Paul Rosenfeld of Saint Louis , and Tik Root of
Ripton, decided to explore Vermont ‘s Route 100. Along the way, they
stopped to meet people and learn about life in contemporary Vermont.
Near
the Massachusetts border, Route 100 passes through a number of small
towns that cater to out of state visitors, winter and summer. It’s a
part of Vermont where the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well.
One
of those town is Jamaica, and it’s where Root and Rosenfeld’s travels
in search of the pulse of life in contemporary Vermont concludes – with a
visit to a glass-blowing workshop owned by an independent-minded member
of the state’s diverse craft community.
(Rosenfeld)
One of the most fascinating things about traveling Route 100, was
hearing how each person we met carves their nitch into the state. In
Jamaica, we happened upon Hank Schwartz, co-owner of the Hot Glass Works
store on Route 100. Hank, and his wife Toby, are both master glass
blowers. They came to Vermont in 1978 with no intention of staying
forever, but, as Hank explained with a smile, they were finishing up
with school and trying to decide what to do next when Toby made an
interesting suggestion.
(Hank) She said my family has a piece of
property we could build a little storage shed, leave everything there
and go traveling.
(Rosenfeld) They managed to get to Vermont before they ran out of gas for the truck and Hank says the rest is history.
(Hank)
Well, we didn’t have any money to travel. I mean we didn’t have any
money to begin with. We were college students. So we lived in that
storage shed which was 16×20 for eight years.
(Rosenfeld) As
accidental settlers, Hank and Toby had to find a way to make ends meet.
They did this by putting a very unusual skill to good use in less than
ideal conditions.
(Hank) We blew glass outdoors for three
years-to blow the glass, to sell the glass, to make the money, to buy
the nails, to build the building. Our first winter was really hard. We
had no firewood. Welded a handmade wood stove. And somehow we made it
through that first winter.
(Rosenfeld) The second winter was
also hard, but not as hard as the first one. Hank says living in Vermont
has been a bit like climbing a ladder.
(Hank) And I tell people if you start at the very bottom, there’s nowhere else to go but up!
(Rosenfeld) Today, Hank has a philosophical view of those early years.
(Hank)
Boy, when we were blowing glass outdoors people thought we were
struggling, we were having the hardest time. And we thought we were
doing great, we had our freedom, you know, nobody telling us what to do.
Now, I have this store, and everybody thinks that I’m doing really
great, and I know we’re struggling we don’t have our freedom.
(Rosenfeld) Hank says that when his kids graduated from college, he took them aside…
(Hank)
…and I said, I’m gonna apologize to you now for all the glass you’re
gonna have to deal with when I die cause I don’t plan on stopping making
it. And my daughter, with her master’s degree, looked me straight in
the eye and said why don’t you sell it before you die.
(Rosenfeld) So now Hank’s a storekeeper, and he says that’s something else he never planned on.
(Hand)
Life throws you these hooks, you know. Or like my wife says I jump off
cliffs with both feet and then I look. The work in here spans thirty
years. So, I mean, I look at them and I don’t necessarily see the piece,
I see that part of my life.
(Rosenfeld) When Tik and I look
around the Hot Glass Works store on Route 100, we see a small enterprise
that’s both practical and creative. It’s pretty emblematic for the
state itself, and a good way to wind up our travels in search of the
pulse of Vermont.
For Tik Root and myself, I’m Paul Rosenfeld.