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Taghkanic Baskets The Legends of the Bushwackers
By Marcia DeCillo All of the taghkanic baskets came from the same place. The place was the region in the lower Columbia county called West Taghkanic. The region was noted as the "hill" near the Lake Charlotte, renamed Lake Taconic. The baskets were all made by about five different families who live in this region. Around 1920 a newspaper man from N.Y.C. came into the region and discovered the families who all had inter-married and were making these baskets for every useful purpose and bringing them to Hudson to be sold. Hence the name bushwackers came about, and this upset the families that continue to make baskets. Finally in around 1930 compulsory education started and kids had to go to school. The Hotalings and the Propers were the last to make baskets and of course Lizzy Proper was the most famous and last of the baskets were made by her. She died about 14 years ago hence no more baskets. "In the wintertime we made baskets : in the summers the men worked the farms," She stated. In the beginning most people thought the Taghanic baskets were shaker baskets because they were so well made. Taghkanic is an Indian name and it is thought the first bushwackers were taught to make baskets by the Indians, the Mohicans were a tribe near by. The families during 1920 to 1940’s made thousands of baskets and because they were such good baskets, there are still many around today. They were not only sold locally but a lot went to a store somewhere in Connecticut. Brown ash was used in the beginning and when that got hard to find they would substitute oak, hickory and maple. Many baskets were of mixed wood because the families never went out of the region to find wood. When all the trees became hard to find and World War II came along with bags etc. the baskets had been replace and at that time no one thought of collecting. In the mid sixties Liz Proper began again making baskets. She had grown up with basket makers and she knew the woods because she was a logger for awhile. Liz continued to make baskets for twenty odd years. Taghkanic baskets can be spotted from afar once you know their characteristics. The classic Taghkanic is a round bottom swing handle. It has a double pushed up bottom. The swing handle is different .It is flat and bent at the arch. At either end is an hole which accepts an ear notch for the inside and outside of the rim. The other outstanding feature is the rim, always double lash and compressed. The rim extends from the outside of the basket. The rim is always Chris crossed to the body of the basket. This basket is ideal for picking and sorting Oak for rigidity was used for all rims, ears, and handles. Ash was used for lashing and weavers, then as these woods were gone maple was used. Taghkanic basket makers produced a wide range of baskets, round bottom, squared and rectangle market baskets, work baskets, carriers, mail, sewing, wash and flower and best of all friendship. Apart from the miniatures and individual small and mid-size there were also nested sets. The nesting sets of baskets show the ability of the families to make perfect copies of the basic form in any size. But remember they all had the same elements, rims, mix of materials, ration of weavers, double lashing, oval or round tops. The baskets had a distinctive finish especially noted in the friendship basket. The little flip end. The taghkanic basket is a very durable basket and they made baskets only one way. The shaker baskets were made many different ways and were not as durable. So start collecting and watching for the best basket...Hudson Valley history at its best.... |
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