Miles B. Carpenter

Miles B. Carpenter moved from Pennsylvania to a Sussex County peanut farm in 1902. In 1912 he entered the lumber business with a planing mill and sawmill. When business slowed during World War II, he whittled figures, but he did not carve in earnest until the 1960s, when his watermelons, peanut men, and whimsical monsters earned him a national reputation as a folk artist. His woodcarvings reflected the influence of Sussex County's two major industries, lumber and peanuts.

Waverly, Virginia · United States