Colonial Williamsburg Cooper

Well, I figured for review #1000 I needed to pick somewhere special and for me that is the cooper’s shop at Colonial Williamsburg. While my reviews for CW will attest to the fact that I’m very down on how the place is run as a whole, I am 100% fascinated by what goes on at this shop.
The art (and to me it is an art) of cooperage has more or less not changed in centuries and to me something about that is uniquely awesome because while cardboard boxes and metal containers have replaced wooden casks, if you for example need a cask made, the old school way of making it is still the best way.
The one fallacy that you hear is that some people refer to coopers as barrel makers but that’s not the full story as a barrel is only one size of cask. If you’re lucky enough to visit at a time when James is in he’ll be more than happy to talk with you about a barrel, a rundlet or a hogshead just like the difference between wet coopering and dry coopering plus a whole lot more than I can remember.
Getting back to James, he’s been coopering at CW since the early 70’s and before that he got his start in England in a shop that dated back to 1742. He’s the real deal in every way about the process and is always extremely generous with his time to answer no doubt the same question a thousand times a day or even questions where in his head he’s probably rolling his eyes yet his answer is always gracious. My favorite quote of his which I’ve heard him say two or three times when asked what he or any of the coopers do is that they make circles. That I suppose while true, is a huge understatement of how difficult the trade actually is.
(Only a small handful of people have completed a cooper apprenticeship at CW over the last forty plus years.)
For me personally what it boils down to is that watching what the coopers do here is history in its most pure form. You have a trade being done the same way it was done three hundred years ago being taught by people who learned from the prior generation who learned from the prior generation, etc.
Those experiences are what make coming to CW worthwhile and they’re at the core of what makes the cooper’s shop at CW 100% authentic.

How many times have you heard of a barrel, bucket, or cask being made by hand. Well it’s just not done much anymore, but at CW the spirit of doing it the 18^th Century way is kept alive.
Located off the side street of Nicholoson across the street from the cabinetmaker. There are no demonstrations given, they are doing real work, with real orders. There are no formal tours, but the Cooper will stop what he is doing and show you some work that they are currently doing. They work done by the Cooper is Cooperage. The word itself for the trade of bucket/​barrel making derives from the Middle Dutch, or Middle Low German meaning Kopper, or copper from kupe cask, in turn from Latin cupa tun.
The gentlemen James I talked with had over 35+!yrs experience at the art of Barrel, bucket, cask and other items making. He was super friendly and led our group through the process woods used etc. Is this a lost art, close to it. Very few shops in the world produce hand made work. The local Craft Beer maker Hardywood took delivery of some CW barrels recently.
As in all of the CW trades I have a lot of respect for the skill it takes to continue this old world tradition of making things by hand.