PICKENS — Hank Haskell, a former resident of Pickens for more than 30 years and former president and treasurer of Brunswick Yarns, which was based in Pickens for four decades, has written a new book about the company.
Part memoir and part storytelling (yarns), “Brunswick Yarns: An American Family Business” traces how former New Englander Haskell married a southerner, Pat Peacock Haskell, and how they decided together to move Brunswick from Connecticut to the small town of Pickens.
The first Brunswick plant in Pickens was built in 1959. In the book, Haskell describes how, when the market changed with a calamitous drop in hand-knitting in the late 1980s, Brunswick survived until forced to close and liquidate the business in the late 1990s — paying all banks and creditors 100 percent of what was owed.
Hank and Pat now live in Hilton Head, where they founded a live theatre — South Carolina Repertory Company. SCRC recently celebrated its 20th year and 100th production.
“Brunswick Yarns: An American Family Business” is available for $20, plus $5 postage and handling, at the SCRC website at www.hiltonheadtheatre.com.