Spruce Forest Artisan Village
The Spruce Forest Artisan Village is an arts and heritage center in Garrett County, Maryland, that is dedicated to preserving the heritage of the region. Resident and visiting artisans demonstrate their crafts in restored log cabins and vintage frame structures. Artisan crafts include blacksmithing, weaving, wheel-thrown pottery, bird sculpting, woodturning, and jewelry-smithing. There are living history programs and several historic house museums, including the House of Yoder. Approximately 60,000 people visit the village each year. History The region the village resides in was once known as Little Crossings. Three rooms of the Penn Alps Restaurant were originally a part of the log stagecoach stop known as the Little Crossings Inn. The village as it is today was founded by Alta Schrock in 1957. The historic buildings in the village were taken from various locations across Western Maryland and were restored on site. One of the village's cabins predates the American Revolution, one dates to the era of the American Revolution, and the other cabins date to around the 1830s. One of the village's cabins is the cabin that Alta Schrock lived in during her childhood. 2020 wind storm On April 8, 2020, fifty of the village's towering spruce trees and