Yellow House Rug, 23″ x 36″. Hooked by Ethel Walton, Lebanon, Ohio. This rug was inspired by a piece in American Hooked and Sewn Rugs by Joel and Kate Kopp.
This story begins in Summer 1970 when Alexandra (Sandra) Reynolds and Ethel Eleanora Fuhr Walton met at the Summer Festival of Craftsmen at Caesar’s Creek Pioneer Village near Waynesville, Ohio. Ethel, dressed in colonial clothing, was demonstrating rug hooking; her booth was filled with rugs she had hooked and was offering to sell at the festival. Sandra, a patron of American folk art and an avid antique collector, was drawn to Ethel’s perception of color and purchased one of Ethel’s rugs. Soon after, Sandra commissioned Ethel to hook the first rug in what would become a collection of over 40 pieces.
Of the rugs Sandra commissioned, a number of them are miniatures; most of the miniatures were only 2.75″ x 4″, and a few were slightly larger. Ethel also made five rugs to be displayed during the holiday season in a seven-room dollhouse located in the lobby of The Golden Lamb, a historic Inn in Lebanon, Ohio. A larger rug, depicting The Golden Lamb lobby during the holidays, was commissioned in 1977 and was portrayed on The Golden Lamb Christmas card in 1978.
The Commissioned Rugs
Many of Ethel’s hooked rugs were her own design and were unnamed and unsigned. She reused old wool garments purchased from the Goodwill Store for 10¢, tearing them apart, washing them, and dyeing them the colors she needed, then using a cutter to make the thin strips she needed for her fine-cut rugs. From the 1970s to the 1990s, she hooked everything from miniature rugs to large Oriental floor rugs.
Golden Lamb Lobby for 1978 Xmas, 35″ x 45″. Designed and hooked by Ethel Walton, Lebanon, Ohio, 1978. Each year a Golden Lamb Christmas card was sent to loyal customers announcing The Golden Lamb’s holiday season events. In 1977, Ethel to designed and hooked a rug that depicted the festive holiday lobby at The Golden Lamb. That rug was portrayed on the 1978 Golden Lamb Christmas card. Ethel captured the crackling fire in the stately fireplace, guests arriving to check into their rooms, children admiring the beautifully decorated Christmas tree, and a waiter serving refreshments. This is the only commissioned rug that is signed, named, and dated. On the front, Ethel hooked her initials and the year “EW 77.” On the back she wrote, “Golden Lamb Lobby for 1978 Xmas,” and her name, “Ethel Walton.”
Pineapple Antique Rug, 31″ x 54″. Designed by Marion Ham of Quail Hill Designs and hooked by Ethel Walton, Lebanon, Ohio. After seeing this Quail Hill Designs rug by Marion Ham featured in a March 1982 Good Housekeeping Magazine article, “Hook a Cozy Country Rug the Fast Way,” Sandra’s mother commissioned this rug for herself.
4th of July Picnic Celebration–All Had a Good Time, 31″ x 37″. Hooked by Ethel Walton, Lebanon, Ohio. This rug was inspired by one currently in the Shelburne Museum collection in Vermont. Resources say that the original rug was acquired in 1973 from actor Fred MacMurray (famous for his role as the father in the My Three Sons and for roles in several other movies) and his wife, actress June Haver.
Ethel hooked many rugs, but the total number is unknown. Fortunately, collectors such as Sandra Reynolds share these wonderful examples of textile art and become keepers of the artist’s story. In 2008, Sandra shared eight of Ethel’s rugs in the “Heart of the Hooker” exhibit at the Warren County Historical Society Museum. In August 2009, seventeen more rugs were shown in a miniature exhibit during Rug Hooking Week at Sauder Village in Archbold, Ohio.
During the exhibit at Sauder Village, one attendee commented, “The miniature rugs remind me of ATC cards, which are so popular today.” Another person remarked, “I couldn’t imagine hooking with such a small cut of wool and binding such a tiny piece.” Ethel’s legacy lives on as more and more people see her wonderful work.
Alexandra (Sandra) Reynolds & Ethel Eleanora Fuhr Walton
Alexandra (Sandra) Reynolds in 2010 at her home in Lebanon, Ohio, surrounded by the antiques and American folk art she collects.
Sandra’s love for antiques and folk art was nurtured by her mother, Jane Ballard Mitchell, who was an antique dealer in Sandra’s hometown of Lewisburg from 1950 to 1975. In the beginning, Sandra’s focus was on collecting early New England and Americana antiques. Her home was featured in the June 1988 “Living with Collections” article in Early American Life Magazine. More recently, her interests and focus have taken on a more eclectic and folk art direction.
Between 1969 and 1995 while her husband, Jackson Reynolds, was vice-president and general manager of The Golden Lamb, Sandra shared many of her collections with visitors. The Golden Lamb, an impressive brick building on the corner of South Broadway and West Main Street in Lebanon, Ohio, offered lodging and dining in a historic setting. Sandra supervised the decorating, collections, holiday celebrations, and gift shop.
Together, Sandra and Jackson shared a passion for restoration, antiques, and American folk art, which spilled over into their community. They worked diligently to fill the calendar with seasonal and holiday events as well as antique shows and seminars that were attended by people from all over the country.
During the Reynolds’ administration, The Golden Lamb was famous for its hospitality, fine food, and guestrooms decorated with antiques, and as a showplace for both antique and folk art collections. Sandra traveled across the country, studying, collecting, and networking to create venues at The Golden Lamb and in the town of Lebanon. Over the years, many of those authorities visited her in Lebanon, including hooked rug enthusiasts Joel and Kate Kopp.
Sandra has two sons, Jackson B. Reynolds III of Ohio and Bradley Swink Reynolds of California.
Ethel Eleanora Fuhr Walton. Photo taken in 1972 while hooking on the deck of her Westerville, Ohio home on a beautiful summer day. Notice that she used a simple hoop as her frame.
Ethel was born June 10, 1922, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She lived in Worthington, Ohio from 1954-1964, Westerville, Ohio from 1964 to 1979, and Pageland, South Carolina from 1979 until her death in 2003. She was married to William F. Walton, an Ohio Park Ranger, for 52 years. They had two children, a son, William E. of Oklahoma and a daughter, Jane Hough of South Carolina, and four grandchildren.
Ethel’s daughter, Jane Hough, commented on her mother’s accomplishments. “In my mind, my mother could do anything and do it well. She was a very disciplined and hardworking person—and rather quiet too.”
Artistically gifted, Ethel developed her talents and interests through courses she took at the local YMCA while living in Westerville. She continued educating herself throughout her life. Her interests included braided rugs, leaded glass, wood carving, cross-stitch, sewing, painting, quilting, and rug hooking. She was an excellent cook, gardener, and musician who played the violin and piano.
Ethel Walton’s Miniature Rugs
Of the 28 miniature rugs that Alexandra commissioned from Ethel, some of them were inspired by pieces found in Joel and Kate Kopp’s book, American Hooked and Sewn Rugs. The “GOOD” rug was inspired by a rug seen at Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. The size of these miniature rugs is approximately 23/4″ x 4″, as illustrated by the Dalmatian rug above.
Ethel Walton’s Dollhouse Rugs
Ethel hooked five dollhouse rugs, ranging in size from 12″ x 14″ to 15″ x 16″. Each rug covers the entire floor of one room in the seven-room dollhouse, which was on display in the lobby of The Golden Lamb during the holidays in the late 1970s and early 1980s.