Tom Crabtree: The Great Barrel Company
Greenbrier Sporting Club resident Tom Crabtree left a meaningful imprint on the lives of many in our area during the flood recovery, but his legacy will live on in a new, sprawling business that is bringing new jobs to the Greenbrier Valley.
On June 23, 2016, 11 inches of rain fell on West Virginia, washing away entire neighborhoods in White Sulphur Springs, Caldwell, and Rainelle. Other parts of West Virginia were devastated as well, and in all, over 20 people died. Fourteen of them were from Greenbrier County—a shocking number for an area with just 10,000 people.
For Crabtree, the event was both devastating and inspiring, as he witnessed not just the devastation of the flood, but the hundreds of people who volunteered to clean up, to serve, and rebuild, and the millions of dollars that poured into West Virginia from private donors who simply wanted to help.
In the aftermath of the flood, Crabtree, an architect by trade, and fellow Sporting Club Members Maggie Hutchison and Rob Vass III formed the non-profit Homes for White Sulphur Springs. With the Fiscal Sponsorship of the Greater Greenbrier Community Foundation and a gift of land from the City of White Sulphur Springs, Homes for Sulphur partnered with Mennonite Disaster Services, the Appalachia Service Project, the United Way of the Greenbrier Valley, Christian Public Service, and dozens of independent volunteer organizations in building its flagship project, Hope Village, a housing development built for those who were left homeless by the flood, and many other flood-related housing projects across West Virginia.
But, says Crabtree, he was reminded by a new friend that housing was only part of the equation. That friend was Major General James Hoyer of the West Virginia National Guard, who first arrived in White Sulphur Springs to work on the initial “muck out,” in the days following the flood.
As Hope Village came to fruition, and families were moving into their new homes, Hoyer had a word of warning to Crabtree.
“Hoyer said to me, ‘You’re helping these families create wealth and changing their trajectories. They have nice, new homes and no mortgage. But this community was economically depressed before the flood. Rebuilding homes does not rebuild communities. We have to focus on economic development.’”
In other words, says Crabtree, “People need jobs.”
The West Virginia Great Barrel Company was born out of that quandary. Crabtree, who is now “retired,” is overseeing the new business just outside of White Sulphur Springs, a 115,000 square foot manufacturing facility dedicated to producing white oak whiskey barrels.
The Great Barrel Company, located in Harts Run, and its sister company the WVGBC Audrina Mill in Monroe County, together will employ as many as 150 people at full capacity. Further, the company’s impact is expected to create 200 jobs in the timber industry, according to a feasibility study created by Marshall University.
“We’re looking at a $50 million annual impact on the community,” says Crabtree. And, he says, the impact is sustainable, both environmentally and economically. “If it’s properly managed, West Virginia has an inexhaustible supply of the white oak that is necessary to produce whiskey barrels,” says Crabtree. “Local loggers would much rather sell to us and add value to West Virginia than to ship it overseas.”
For Crabtree and many others, the barrel company is about more than making a high-quality product in a safe environment. It’s about the community that he has become part of over the last quarter century.
“Many investors in this venture are the same people who donated to the flood recovery,” he says. “The lasting impact of the flood on this community is the momentum it created in the community. You can see that here, and you can see that on Main Street in White Sulphur Springs.”