Sam Hill Rolling Pin

It is interesting what items get passed down from generation to generation. One would think that it would be the things of greatest financial value. I have come to realize that most often a person holds onto things of the greatest personal significance which is in no way related to monetary value. Case in point, this handmade rolling ping was one of the few possessions passed down by my grandmother Edna May Hill Abbott to my mother Sylvia Jean Abbott Kuykendall. The rolling pin was created by my great grandfather Sam Hill.

First, who makes a rolling pin out of cedar? Looking at the wood, there are knots everywhere. I am firmly convinced there is a cedar post somewhere on the family farm that is 16 inches shorter than the other.

My mother remembers him whittling as a child. That certainly explains the handles. It looks like he sawed down each side then whittled the handles out without the aid of a ruler. He also made no real attempt to level the barrel. Rolling out biscuits with this pin makes a nice rolling terrain.

But with all its technical shortcomings, clearly it was beloved by my grandmother. As a father I understand the attraction of giving a gift that did not come from Amazon. What I didn’t think about is how that odd piece of handmade bric-a-brac would be the thing our children would hold onto. There is an awful lot of cedar in this part of Texas. I think I will pick up a knife on the way home.

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