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John Heatwole

John L. Heatwole, III
Born (1948-03-24)March 24, 1948
Washington, DC
Died November 22, 2006(2006-11-22)
Rockingham Memorial Hospital, Harrisonburg, VA
Resting place Green Hill Cemetery, Churchville, Virginia
Citizenship United States
Spouse(s) Miriam Dale Heatwole
Parents
  • John L. Heatwole, Jr. (father)
  • Lillye Marie Preston Heatwole (mother)

John L. Heatwole (1948-2006) was an artist, historian, tour guide, and storyteller who gathered and preserved hundreds of oral history and folklore stories from the Shenandoah Valley and throughout Virginia and West Virginia through writings, lectures, and radio programs.

Heatwole was born in Washington, DC and grew up in Northern Virginia, where he met his wife Miriam. After high school, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He worked at the Library of Congress.

Heatwole moved to the Shenandoah Valley at the persuasion of his uncle and began work at the Virginia Craftsmen Furniture Company in Harrisonburg, Virginia in March 1974 as head woodcarver. He opened his own shop in Bridgewater, Virginia in 1976.

Heatwole died of inoperable cancer on November 22, 2006.

Heatwole began working in clay, but turned to woodcarving in his early 20s, seeking out two mentors who taught him to use woodcarving tools. Heatwole exhibited his art publicly for many years before finding a strategic success when his art was showcased in the Neiman Marcus department store's 1979 Christmas window in Washington, DC. He continued shows there until 1985. The Delaware Art Museum invited Heatwole to show his work in 1989, and in 1990 added a piece to its permanent collection. In 2004, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society displayed more than 200 pieces at its museum in Dayton for a 30th anniversary celebration of the artist's career-change decision. In 1991 Heatwole became the first artist from Virginia to display art in the Capitol Rotunda. As of 2004, Heatwole estimated he had completed about 3,000 pieces of art.

Heatwole's interest in Civil War history began as a child. He salvaged bullets, buckles, pot pieces and other war-related artifacts from a field near his home.

Heatwole was the author of many books and booklets, including the Virginia and West Virginia Mountain and Valley Folk Life Series and The Burning: Sheridan in the Shenandoah Valley, which concerned the effects of Sheridan's fall 1864 campaign on civilians., Heatwole's Shenandoah Voices: Folklore, Legends, and Traditions of the Valley, published in 1995, featured recollections of people he interviewed who grew up in the 19th and 20th centuries.


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