In 1760 Daniel Boone and fellow frontiersman Nathaniel Gist were making their way through the Holston Valley on a hunting trip when they set up camp for the night in a wooded area near the crest of a hill.

The pair were startled from sleep by a chorus of menacing growls and loud barks coming from nearby.

A pack of wolves had sprung out of a cave and were attacking Boone’s dogs. Although the famed hero of the American wilderness was able to eventually fend off the attackers, the event prompted Boone to give the area its first name, “Wolf Hills.”

Much has changed around Wolf Hills since Boone’s close call nearly 250 years ago.

For starters, the area now goes by a different name: Abingdon.

Uncharted wilderness long gave way to all the usual sites and sounds of a vibrant town.

Cars moving down East Main Street now glide past a large wooden fence that has shielded the entrance to the cave for years.

Although no longer a roost for wolves, the area where Daniel Boone once camped is now home to the Cave House Craft Shop, a place for local artists and craftsmen to sell and display their work.

Clay pots, quilts, woven baskets, and painted gourds fill the shelves inside the 150-year-old Victorian mansion that rests in front of Boone’s cave.

The Cave House displays works by members of the Holston Mountain Arts and Crafts Cooperative, a group of around 130 local artists and craftsman who live within 50 miles of Abingdon.

Displaying art made entirely locally creates a unique experience for the artist and the shopper. Artists can quickly receive feedback on their work and customers can easily get in touch with the artist for unique requests. 

“If you go into a gift shop and they sell stuff made in China, it’s going to be hard to get a customized version that’s right for you,” director Bill Gable said.

The relationship also allows artists to explore the limits of their creativity.

“If something is high in artistic value but not reasonably sellable, we’ll still display it. That allows [the artist] to be highly experimental,” director Bill Gable said.