Village Craftsmen

170 Howard Street 

Philip Howard

Island life has changed quite a bit since I was a small child.  Although I grew up off the island my family heritage is here. William Howard, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather,  purchased Ocracoke Island in 1759.  Every year since 1944, when I was born, my family spent at least a portion of the summer on the island.  I am fortunate to remember Ocracoke before most paved roads and ferries.  It was a time of narrow paths winding among yaupons and myrtles and family graveyards.  It was a time of wild ponies and my grandmother's fried chicken and homemade biscuits. The mailboat ran only once a day and visitors were rare indeed. 

Ocracoke provided my first taste of freedom.  As a boy I ran barefoot in the soft sand lanes unsupervised.  My imagination carried me back to Blackbeard the pirate and his ship, "The Queen Anne's Revenge." I played on the huge remains of wrecked sailing vessels as they lay silently on the deserted beach.  I would be Blackbeard's quartermaster, the very William Howard who avoided an early death in 1718 when his captain was overtaken in Ocracoke inlet and eventually settled here to start a new line of hardy Outer Bankers. 

But my father had gone north to work in 1927, as so many of the young island men did. There he met and married my mother, Kunigunde Guth, the daughter of Hungarian immigrants.  And so my family heritage also includes ancestors and cousins in the two small Hungarian villages of Pusztavam and Kecsked, west of Budapest. 

I started Village Craftsmen with Julia Howard in 1970.  Before that I had been a student in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and had taken an assignment as intern at Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation in north central Montana.  There, among the Chippewas and Crees I gained an appreciation for their culture and crafts. 

On returning East we fashioned an authentic 18' tipi which served as our first Village Craftsmen structure.  From those modest beginnings, selling my pen and ink drawings along with a few craft items, we have expanded into a more conventional business in a wood frame building. Nevertheless, I like to think we have maintained our original sense of respect for people, the environment and the culture. 

This is reflected, I think, in the way we operate Village Craftsmen and in the way our building is nestled among the cedars and live oaks on our picturesque lane. 

We are also fortunate to have talented, dedicated and creative employees.  Look for information about them in Staff Profiles. 

I also feel blessed to have two wonderful, creative and caring children, as well as, three delightful grandchildren, the 10th generation of the Howard family from Ocracoke Island.