NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) - — If you appreciate history, there are so many pieces we use today that are in a second life.
One in particular is components from railroads used for furniture.
"We just love capturing that history — hanging onto it," said Robert Hendrick with Railyard Studios. "There's a story. You want something that's got history to it and we don't want it to just evaporate."
Working on a railroad in La Vergne, Hendrick's team stays busy. However, that's only part of their whole story.
"So we make artisan furniture from vintage railroad components," he said.
Those components get turned into a bed, coffee table, desk, or even an end table.
"So we started making furniture because it got slow at one point around 2011, and I had to do something to keep the crew busy," Hendrick said.
Each piece has a history, with the goal of keeping it alive and well.
"I'm dealing with rail that's got Andrew Carnegie's name on it from 1899, 1896," he added.
With each piece, Hendrick's team hopes to provide not just the physical history — but the story that comes with it.
"It tells you the history of where that material was made, what we know about it," he said. "It tells you about the source of all the materials like the wood that goes into it."
This company has been with Hendrick for at least a decade. He's been working on the railway since 2001 — the furniture since 2011. He hopes this is something that doesn't go anywhere anytime soon.
"We kept this stuff, you know, it's been out in the field for a hundred years," he said. "And now it's under roof, it'll be here long after I'm gone. My grandkids, my great-grandkids, maybe one day will be able to point to something and say oh yeah, he made that."
To learn more about their furniture, click here.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
