SHEPHERDSTOWN – Shepherdstown resident Kathy Sholl recently co-presented with Harrisonburg, Virginia, resident Gary Smucker on coverlet weaving at the Rocktown History Museum at the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Historical Society Museum in Dayton, Virginia. The presentation focused on the lives of the Tusing Sisters, well-known in the Shenandoah Valley as expert weavers.

With nearly fifty in attendance, the museum overflowed with those interested in the lives of Ora and Lynn Tusing and their weaving skills. The two sisters lived mostly independently on a 255-acre farm on top of Branch Mountain in Hardy County. Ora (1896-1974) and Lynn (1905-2000) were Mennonites and lived a unique pioneer lifestyle, despite modern conveniences.

The sisters raised sheep, carded and spun wool, and used a loom t

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