beehive horn question

[leviathan]

Were beehive plug horns common in and around Salem, NC?  Would love to know to if all beehive plug powder horns had bands and tips applied?  Also, were brass tacks a common feature on NC horns. your info is very much appreciated!

[Tim Crosby]

 I would say yes they were since Salem is in the Piedmont area of N.C. and the Beehive style was found throughout the area.
 Not all N.C. horns had Beehive shaped butts or applied tips. Some have Brass tacks but I am of the opinion that in some cases they may not have put on when the horn was made but added later by an owner sometime in its life time.
 A couple of books to look at:
Bone Tipped & Banded Horns by Jay Hopkins

North Carolina Schools Of Longrifles 1765-1856 by William Ivey

Michael Briggs' Piedmont North Carolina Banded Powder Horns Hunting Bags & Bullet Molds  .

 There are others but these will get you headed in the right direction


 Tim C.

[Marcruger]

Leviathan,  Are you in the Winston Salem area? 

To answer your question, I do tend to think of the beehive plugs as seen in Piedmont NC.  NC symbol in the early days was the skep hive.  Not sure if there is a connection, but beehive plugs are my favorites. 

Are you planning to make one?  Buy one?  There are several really talented makers on this forum that make southern banded horns. 

Best wishes, and God Bless,   Marc

[mbriggs]

Sorry it took a while for me to see this and respond.  I am not a horner and have never attempted to build a powder horn. I have been collecting, studying, and selling original Piedmont North Carolina Powder Horns for the last forty years.  I see the bee-hive base as largely a Southern item.  There are many Piedmont North Carolina horns with bee-hive bases, but I have also seen them on Powder Horns from other Southern States including Virginia, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

I have several North Carolina horns with brass tacks on them, but also have many of them without them.

Here are a few examples.






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As to any connection with the Salem School, that is hard to prove.  Jay owns a large French & Indian period banded horn he believes was made at the Single Brothers House.

I own an engraved horn with an image of the Single Brothers House [built in 1766 with two doors and four chimneys] and a exposed timber house on it.  It was found at an estate a few miles west of where Andreas Betz and George Betz moved to in Rowan County.

There are two other engraved horns dated 1803 with Stokes County engraved on them.  Salem was in Stokes County before part of that county became Forsyth.  They may have a Salem connection but cannot be proved.

Blake Stevenson and I have agreed to co-author a book on the "Longrifle Makers of the Salem School."  I am looking forward to seeing what we learn in our research.

Michael