The Little Loomhouse

As summer steadily approaches, many of us are planning vacations and road trips. These getaways are not just opportunities to spend time with friends and family away from home, they’re also opportunities to discover new yarn shops and other places of weaverly interest.

If you’re planning a trip in or near Louisville, Kentucky, make sure to put the Little Loomhouse on your list of places to visit. More than just a cute name, the Little Loomhouse is actually made up of three cabins (and one outhouse) all formerly owned by weaver Lou Tate. During her life, Tate strove to keep American handweaving alive through both the preservation of drafts and textiles and also through the education of future weavers. (More on her in this Friday’s BeWeave It.) After her death, the complex was left to the Lou Tate Foundation, which continues to pursue Tate's mission. Famous visitors to the Little Loomhouse include Eleanor Roosevelt and Frank Lloyd Wright, both of whom enjoyed their visits thoroughly. Modern-day visitors can take weaving and spinning classes, tour the historic structures, "ooh" and "ah" over the historic textiles, or purchase some lovely little handwovens at the gift shop. For any travelling companions not as enamored with weaving history (such people do exist), it's worth a mention that the melody of the famous "Happy Birthday Song" was written in one of the cabins.