The area of Southeastern Pennsylvania in which we live has provided us with a treasure trove of interesting and distinctive hooked rugs. In Lancaster and the surrounding counties, there is a mixture of German and English cultures. The English tradition includes the Quakers and Scots-Irish, but the majority of rugs seem to have been made by the women in Pennsylvania German families.

Few examples of hand-hooked and hand-sewn rugs made before 1850 survive. So, you might ask, “What was on the floor before the craze for hooking rugs took over in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries?” Sometimes nothing! But in this part of the country most housewives did cover their floors in the early 1800s, most often with hand-woven carpets like the one illustrated on p. 25. It is approximately 36 inches wide, the common width for this type of woven rug.

In the twentieth century, homemade braided rugs also became popular and they are still a functional way to recycle used woolen materials. Newer rugs, such as this “Bo Peep” girl chasing her goose, have for many years been ignored, or worse yet walked upon, worn and thrown out. We hope that others will look at their hooked and hand-sewn rugs, sometimes well-worn with daily use or forgotten in the attic, and preserve them for the next generation to appreciate.

Trading as The Herrs Antiques, Trish Herr and her husband Don have been dealers since 1975. They specialize in Pennsylvania German decorative arts and eighteenth-and nineteenth-century American textiles and pewter. www.theherrsantiques.com.

Further resources
Patricia H. Herr, Rags to Rugs: Hooked and Handsewn Rugs of Pennsylvania (Schiffer Publishing Ltd.)

The Heritage Center Museum of Lancaster County, with the help of many rug hookers and collectors, has documented hundreds of examples. www.heritagecentermuseum.com.

Rooster rug. This is one of the earliest examples found. It was made about 1860 using wool yarns that were satin stitched on a plain weave linen foundation. The technique is similar to that used in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in needlework embroideries and samplers. Courtesy of the Herrs’ collection.

Girl and Goose hooked rug. The patterns of all the hooked and sewn rugs shown so far were created by local women. But commercial patterns were also used by area women to design rugs. This example reminds us of a Mother Goose story. It consists of wool fabric and yarn hooked into a commercially-printed burlap ground. Attributed to Sue Hummel, who lived in Elizabethtown, Lancaster Co., it was made around 1925. The Benjamin Grieder family was her neighbor, and saved their old wool clothing which they gave her to be cut into strips for her to make a gift for their daughter, Martha Greider Herr, before her marriage to Maurice Herr in 1927. Fortunately it was cherished by my husband's family and kept in the guest room where it received little wear. Now it is a much appreciated part of our personal collection. Courtesy of the Herrs' collection.

Sheep hooked rug. Animals were popular subjects for rug makers in Southeastern Pennsylvania. Perhaps this smiling sheep was a member of the flock living on the farm of this unknown northern Lancaster County maker. For collectors and historians she thoughtfully applied the date of 1897 to her finished piece. It was made from wool strips hooked on a burlap ground. Courtesy the Herrs’ collection.

Cross stitched rug, Dauphin County. This is an example of an early and unusual group of floor or table coverings, found in the Dauphin County. This particularly small example (20 in x 36 in) serves as the 'Rosetta stone' for this group of cross stitched rugs worked on burlap. It is signed by the maker, 'Mary Gingrich,' with the location 'Derry Church, Dauphin Country Pa.,' and the date '1876.' Before Mr. Hershey started making chocolate in that area of Pennsylvania, the small town where he established his business was known as Derry Church. Other related rugs have names and initials of Mennonite women who were related to, or close neighbors of, Mary. While Hershey bars have flourished, these rugs remain rare - less than a dozen examples are known. Courtesy of the Herrs' collection.

Grandview farm hooked rug. Local neighborhood scenes were frequently adapted by rug makers in designing their home floor coverings. The example is that of Grandview farm in Lancaster County and is attributed to Rebecca Horst Keiffer (1885-1963) who lived on that property in Center Church, Bowmansville, Lancaster Co. She probably made this piece around 1935. Courtesy of Clarke Hess.

Rag carpet. This rag carpet was found in a Lancaster Mennonite home and was woven by a professional weaver about 1870. It contains the bright colored wool yarn favored by the Pennsylvania Germans on a heavy warp made of strips of recycled household textiles, thus the term 'rag.' Later in the twentieth century, and even today, Amish weavers continue to make this carpeting using strips cut from recycled clothing supplied by the homemaker. Courtesy of Clarke Hess.