Chéticamp's Rug Hooking

Place Names Chéticamp New York Baddeck

Did you know there is one part of Chéticamp culture that is famous all over the world? It is rug hooking. More than 200 men and women earn good money with this craft. It all began with a woman who wasn’t from Chéticamp. She was from New York.

Lillian Burke was a summer visitor at the home of Mabel and Alexander Graham Bell, in Baddeck, in 1927. She met some women from Chéticamp and discovered they made beautiful hooked rugs for their homes. Miss Burke knew what rich Americans would like and she showed new colours and designs to the Chéticamp women. The flower designs she showed them are still popular today. That year, she sold seven rugs in the United States. This was the first time anyone in Chéticamp was paid for making a rug. The next year Miss Burke sold 200 Chéticamp rugs and the industry was born.

Then, in 1929, a world-wide event took place that gave a huge boost to rug hooking. The Great Depression happened. This caused business to slow down and wages and prices to fall. There was no work. Families grabbed rug hooking as the only way to make some money. The industry brought tens of thousands of dollars into the community each year during the 10 years of the Depression.