When Joy Rowland's husband, Lee, died in 2016, Joy thought about leaving Leola and returning to live in her hometown of Coatesville. But, rather than pack up and relocate, Joy decided to immerse herself in her connection to the steel industry - both her father and her husband had been employees of Lukens Steel.

So, during the winter of 2019, she visited the National Iron and Steel Heritage Museum, 50 S. First Ave., Coatesville, with her niece, as part of the organization's open house. The experience brought back memories of visiting her father in the mill, where battleship steel was made, when she was a girl. Joy contacted Melinda Williams, development manager for the museum, to see what she could do to get involved.

Joy told Melinda, "I am a child of that mill," explaining that her father was a defense worker there during World War II. Joy and Melinda discussed Joy's volunteering at the museum, and Melinda asked Joy if she did any crafts. Joy told her, "I braid rugs." "(Rug braiding) is an American craft that would have been done a lot in the 1800s," said Joy. The early 1800s time period was important to Joy because it was in 1825 that Rebecca Lukens, matriarch of the steel mill, lost her husband while still in her early 30s and expecting her sixth child. Rebecca promised her husband as he was dying that she would run the Brandywine Iron Works and Nail Factory.

In March, Joy began work on a braided rug that will be donated to the museum to be sold as part of a fundraising auction that will coincide with the museum's holiday open house on Friday, Dec. 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. "The mansions will be decorated. We have luminarias lining First Avenue, and the Lukens Band fills the air with soft Christmas melodies," said Melinda of the event. "Santa is present, of course, and we have refreshments for our guests."

The auction, which will open online at http://www.steelmuseum.org on Friday, Nov. 25, will run through 8 p.m. on Dec. 9. During the open house, the board room of the Lukens Executive Office Building will have a display of the items, and a computer will be present for those who wish to bid.

Joy chose the colors of the 30-by-44-inch wool rug to represent Coatesville and Chester County. "This is the heat of the mill," she said, pointing to a cranberry color in the center of the piece. The blue-green surrounding the red represents Chester County. "It stands for trees," explained Joy, who shared that she takes note of the woods in Chester County each time she travels from Lancaster County farmland to Coatesville. Another color heavily featured in the rug is gold. Joy pointed out how the gold surrounds the other colors. "This represents for me little steps, which are the footsteps of all the children in Coatesville as they walked to school," said Joy, noting that the children's education benefited from the gold (funds) produced by the success of the mill. "It's all the heritage I have because of it," she said.

The museum will be a stop on the Chester County Day tour to be held on Saturday, Oct. 1. More information about the 81st annual tour may be found at http://www.chestercountyday.com.