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About

Welcome to the White River Craft Center – Our main offices and facilities are located at the Kimball House on Randolph Ave, Randolph Vt. We are focused on developing a community of artists and craftspeople to stimulate learning and creativity. All ages of learners are welcome. Research shows that hands-on learning aids children by improving their attention and skills in the classroom and their self-esteem. Creating with ones hands is relaxing and energizing for everyone. Mission: The White River Craft Center (WRCC) promotes self-help for individuals through stewardship and appreciation of traditional crafts. It does this by providing opportunities for craft education and community partnerships.​
Who Gathers:
  • You
  • Vermont Weavers Guild
  • Students Of:
    • Vermont Technical College
    • East Valley Academy
    • Randolph Technical Career Center
  • Vermont Culinary Entrepreneurs
  • Randolph Area Community Development corporation
  • Heart of Vermont Collaborative of the Creative Economy
  • Numerour Residents of Randolph and surrounding Villages
White River Craft Center has been in operation since 1998 in a series of old factory buildings along the railroad on Weston Street in Randolph, since then, we have worked to restore the Kimball house and created other studio spaces for our workshops, now we are focused on building a curriculum that fills these spaces and generates beautiful hand crafted pieces from our community. Although the venue has expanded, the original philosophy of self-help through directed hands-on involvement remains.
Restoration of the Kimball House:
The restoration of the Kimball House to its original splendor has been accomplished through volunteer – mostly youth – efforts. The energy and vision embodied in the White River Craft Center has wrought remarkable change on this, our biggest canvas to date. We invite you to tour with us.
Kimball House History:
This once and future elegant home, originally christened Montague Place, was built by Robert. Kimball, a Vermont farm boy who made his fortune on Wall street. He built the mansion in 1887 so he and his family could always come home.
Kimball believed that arts, knowledge and culture were not separate from a practical life but should rather lie at the center of it. Acting on these cored beliefs, he gave the town of Randolph its fine public library and, later, its public golf course.
In October of 2001, needing space and a project to match its vision, the Craft Center found an opportunity to purchase a tarnished jewel of a building. This was the Kimball House, a 10,000+ square foot mansion that had been built in a grand Victorian Queen Anne style.
Over time, Kimball’s home has served as a summer retreat for the family, a country club for Kimball’s golf course, an inn, and for almost half a century it was Tranquility Nursing Home. Now the Kimball House, current home of the White River Craft Center, is poised to rejoin its community for full and vibrant public use.

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