After being out of town all last week, we found a great opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with our locality via the Franklin County Artisan Studio & Harvest Tour, which featured stops all over the county.

My first visit was to the Historic Rocky Mount Train Depot, where they had a number of artists showing their work. I got to check out Carolyn Moore ‘s intricate weaving, John Bowman, Jr.’s watercolors, as well as handmade pottery, jewelry, stained glass, fused glass, and even mandolins.

Right down the street, I found the Grainery Art Gallery and Studios, along with the Hot Taffy Glass studio, which were filled with even more visual delights. In SWVA style, everyone was incredibly friendly and glad to talk about their work.

This was the fourth year that Franklin County has offered the studio tour, and it was a great chance to learn about more of the culture of our new neighborhood.