Pirate Roots and Hemp Rope
Some projects lean on hemp twine for the look and feel of another century. This one runs straight through American history.
Sherman Meshaw sent us a photo of himself and his daughter Kat in full costume at the Black Beard Pyrate event in Hampton, Virginia. If you know your pirate history, Hampton is a fitting place to stand in character.
As Sherman told us, Hampton is where Blackbeard’s head was displayed on a pole in 1718, at the mouth of the Hampton River. It was meant as a warning to anyone who aspired to piracy. A few centuries later the town leans into that story, and Sherman and Kat are part of the crew that keeps it alive.
Sherman uses our 5mm hemp twine for the details that make a period kit feel real. He wraps handles and grips with it, nets a bottle in it, and finishes the small props that pull a costume together. Laid out on the table next to a spool, it reads as gear that could have come off an 18th century ship.
That same twine shows up away from the festival too. Sherman wraps the grips of his walking sticks and hiking poles in a tight spiral of hemp, which gives a natural hold and a look that suits a hand cut stick far better than anything synthetic. Those sticks go out on the trail with him around North Carolina.
Hemp has been rope and cord for a very long time, so it belongs in work like this. It takes a wrap cleanly, holds a knot, and ages into a color that reads as old rather than new.
We love seeing where our twine ends up. From a pirate festival in Hampton to a trail in North Carolina, this one carried a little history along with it.
