Ghosts tend to deteriorate after about 400 years, One of the most outstanding exceptions to the rule being a troop of Roman soldiers marching through the cellar of the Treasurer's House, York Minster, England. After nearly 19 centuries of tromping around in that basement you'd think they'd be a sure-fire Guinness Book record and they'd be in that book, too, if it weren't for all those ... CARPETBAGS still hangin'-out everywhere. Seen any Roman Legions marching through airports lately? Carpetbags still do. 'Nuff said!

Carpetbags, crafted in our shop right next to an ornery ol' bull's pasture here in Tennessee, are unique, practical, convenient containers for the conveyance of personal goods. Seems like carpetbags have been around forever, long before Nero got his first fiddle or King Tut had all that gold stuff made. Among all those folks who used carpetbags throughout history were Sir Walter Raleigh, Abe Lincoln, Mary Poppins and maybe even Cleopatra when she hung-out with Julius on those romantic Nile cruises.

Carpetbag makers probably first appeared before the age of the pyramids. The fabric of choice for making them has always been tapestries which have been woven for thousands of years. It is thought tapestries originated in mid-east Asia and were distributed throughout the known world via caravans over extensive trade routes. They were used by the ancient civilizations, and still are today, as decorative wall hangings and as floor coverings - this may be the source of the *carpet*bag misnomer.

Contrary to popular belief, few carpetbags were ever made from carpeting. In the 1850’s the US Patent Office issued a patent for an automatic carpet weaving machine which inexpensively produced a type of carpet similar to that still in use today. Sensing an opportunity, carpetbag manufacturers tried this new carpet product but, because of its bulk and stiffness, found it useful for only the flap-opening, small purse-size bags but not for the larger luggage types we make.

The manufacturing of carpetbags in the US was a booming industry until after the War Between the States when, through no fault of its own, the entire industry became a victim of the times. Tales emanating from the South about the sordid deeds of some scurrilous opportunists called “Carpetbaggers” were widely circulated by exploitive politicians and a willing press. Fearing guilt by association, carpetbags were forsaken by their owners and banished to the attics and trashpiles of yesteryear. Eventually, with carpetbags virtually forced from public view, an entire industry fatally succumbed to the cultural leprosy which we know today as political incorrectness. (Sigh!)

How true it is that nothing is new except the history we have not read.

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