Grandma's Silver

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky sits down with Matthew Monk, the Linda Eaton Curator of Textiles at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library, to explore the remarkable stories stitched into historic textiles.

Using Winterthur's exhibition Stitched in Place as their starting point, they discuss how needlwork projects preserve craftsmanship, but also reveal all sorts of things about identity, belonging, and family history. 

Matthew shares how curators and historians "read" textiles as primary sources, the clues hidden in stitches and motifs, and why handmade objects continue to resonate in today's digital world. 

In this episode:

• The inspiration behind the exhibit
• How historic needlework preserves memory and identity
• Reading textiles as primary sources
• The stories behind Winterthur's textile collections
• Why handmade objects resonation today
• How needlework connects us to place
• Winterthur's upcoming conference

RESOURCES:

• Visit Winterthur! Learn more here.
• Follow Winterthur on Instagram here!

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky sits down with Lauren Wodicka, artist, designer, and founder of LBW Studio, for a conversation about developing an eye for beauty, collecting intentionally, and creating homes that evolve over time.

Before launching her interior design studio, Lauren built a career as an artist and gallery owner, helping her fine art clients curate spaces filled with art and antiques. That foundation continues to shape her approach today as she helps clients create homes that feel personal and, as she puts it, "paints their story."

In this episode:

• Developing taste through observation
• The influence of art on interior design
• Collecting meaningful objects confidently
• What historic properties teach us about permanence
• Authentic interiors

RESOURCES:

• Visit the LBW Studio website here.
• Follow along on Instagram and/or Pinterest.

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky is joined by Sarah Moore, founder and principal designer of Sarah Catherine Design, for a conversation about character and the elements of a house that feel layered and detailed.

Growing up among historic Southern neighborhoods, Sarah developed an early appreciation for homes with stories. Today, she brings that perspective to her work, designing timeliness interiors across the Southeast that blend classic influences with a fresh, livable approach.

They discuss the impact of historic homes on modern living, why materials and attention to detail matter, and how to create spaces that feel collected and layered.

In this episode:

• Historic Southern homes
• What gives a home character and lasting appeal
• Lessons modern homeowners can learn from older houses
• Designing for everyday life
• Timelessness vs. trend-driven design

RESOURCES:

• Visit Sarah Catherine Design here.
• Shop Sweet Home by SCD.
• Follow Sarah on Instagram and/or Pinterest.

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

As part of the Grandma's Silver conversation series surrounding American Craftsmanship with Colonial Williamsburg's WILLIAMSBURG brand, this conversation explores the journey of American cotton with Red Land Cotton, particularly what it means to preserve domestic textile manufacturing. 

Anna Brakefield, co-founder, shares how a visit to Colonial Williamsburg inspired a collaboration with WILLIAMSBURG brand, translating historic textile patterns into a collection designed for modern homes.

Along the way, learn why everyday household linens were once heirlooms, what has been lost as textile production moved overseas, and why craftsmanship, stewardship, and quality still matter in everyday objects.

In this episode:

• The story behind Red Land Cotton and its family farm in Alabama
• The journey from seed to sheet
• Why American textile manufacturing matters
• Historic linens and heirloom bedding
• The collaboration with Colonial Williamsburg's WILLIAMSBURG brand
• The relationship between craftsmanship and preservation

Resources:

• Visit Red Land Cotton's website here.
• Follow along on Instagram and/or Facebook.
• Read about the collaboration and shop.

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky sits down with Peggy Cornett, longtime Curator of Plants at Monticello, former director of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants, and author of Thomas Jefferson's Flowers, to explore gardens as living records of history.

Together, they discuss how historic landscapes preserve stories of daily life, seasonal rhythms, beauty, labor, and cultural exchange. Drawing on more than four decades of preserving Thomas Jefferson's botanical legacy, Peggy shares what the flowers cultivated at Monticello reveal about Jefferson's botanical interests, his international network of plant exchanges, and the many people, including enslaved gardeners and laborers, whose knowledge and work shaped the landscape.

The detective work behind restoring historic gardens is also explored, along with how historians reconstruct landscapes from letters, archaeological evidence, and plant records, and why heirloom plants can serve as a form of living inheritance.

In this episode, they discuss:

• The inspiration behind Thomas Jefferson's Flowers
• How gardens function as living historical documents
• Jefferson's passion for flowers and botanical exchange
• The people whose labor sustained Monticello's gardens
• Restoring historic landscapes
• Heirloom plants
• Seasonal rhythms in early America
• What gardens reveal about identity and place

RESOURCES

• Visit Monticello's website here.
• Purchase the book on Monticello's site, or on Amazon.

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

This week, Allie Kochinsky virtually travels to Summerville, South Carolina, a historic Lowcountry town that proudly calls itself the "Birthplace of Sweet Tea." At the center of the conversation is the town's Sweet Tea Trail, a self-guided experience connecting local businesses, history, food, and community through one of the South's most iconic traditions.

But this episode isn't simply about a beverage; it's about hospitality as identity. About preserving small-town character in a changing South. About tourism rooted in storytelling rather than spectacle. And about why certain traditions, even simple ones, continue to hold emotional power.

Allie, joined by Cassie Ford, Director of Tourism, explores the history of Summerville, the cultural mythology surrounding sweet tea, and what local traditions reveal about the places we call home.

RESOURCES: 

• Take a visit to the Summerville website here.
• Follow along on Facebook and/or Instagram.
• Learn more about the Sweet Tea Trail!

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky is joined by Jessica Chaney, founder of Lycette Designs, for a conversation on needlepoint as more than just a pastime, but a practice rooted in patience, memory, and home.

Together, they explore why this traditional craft is finding new relevance today, and what it offers in a culture that often prioritizes speed and convenience. From heirloom pillows to hand-stitched canvases, needlepoint occupies a unique space, both decorative and personal, shaped as much by the process as the finished piece.

Jessica discusses the quiet discipline of making something by hand, how these objects evolve over time, and why they so often become part of a home's story. 

RESOURCES

• Shop Lycette Designs online.
• Plan a trip to the store(s).
• Follow along on Instagram, TikTok, and/or Pinterest.

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky sits down with lifestyle creator and new author Chassity Evans to discuss her debut novel Pink Sand Summer, and the relationship between place, memory, creativity, and storytelling.

Known for her thoughtfully curated lifestyle content and love of coastal living, Chassity has spent years creating visual narratives inspired by the places she loves. With Pink Sand Summer, she takes that storytelling a step further, transforming the atmosphere and emotional pull of Harbour Island into a work of fiction.

Together, the women explore how places shapes narrative, why summer stories continue to resonate with readers, and how nostalgia functions as both a feeling and a creative tool. Chassity also shares what surprised her most about writing a novel, the challenges of moving from visual storytelling to long-form fiction, and the role memory plays in building characters and emotional depth.

In this episode, they discuss:

• The journey from creator to novelist
• The inspiration behind the book
• Harbour Island as a creative influence
• Place, memory, and storytelling
• Why readers are drawn to summer fiction
• Building characters through emotional detail
• The emotional power of coastal settings

For readers who love summer novels, coastal fiction, place-based storytelling, and romance, this episode offers a thoughtful look at how the places we love become part of the stories we tell.

RESOURCES:

• Follow Chassity on Instagram here.
• Buy the book on Amazon!

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

In this episode, Allie Kochinsky is joined by Brittany Shepard, founder of The Sentimental Decorator and co-host of The Sentimental Twist, for a conversation on what she calls storykeeping, the practice of weaving memory, meaning, and personal history into the everyday rhythms of home.

Together, the two explore the quiet power of ordinary rituals: setting the table without occasion, using heirlooms instead of saving them, and gathering in ways that feel lived-in rather than performed. Brittany shares how her perspective on home was shaped by the women who raised her, and how continuing their traditions through objects and simple acts of hospitality has become a way of carrying their presence forward.

Brittany and Allie also talk about the difference between hosting and hospitality, the emotional weight objects can hold, and why repetition rather than reinvention is often what creates a true sense of home. 

RESOURCES:

• Visit The Sentimental Decorator website here.
• Follow Brittany on Instagram. 
• Follow Brittany's podcast!

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.

Charleston is often described by its charm and beauty, but this conversation looks at the city through a different lens: domestic space, hospitality, and the rhythms that shape how people feel inside a place.

In this episode of Grandma's Silver, Allie Kochinsky sits down with Stacey Bodnar, Director of Marketing & Public Relations for Charming Inns, of which the John Rutledge House Inn belongs. The pair talk about what it means to operate a historic house as a living environment rather than simply a hotel. Together, they explore how architecture influences behavior, why porches—nay, piazzas—remain powerful social spaces, and how atmosphere can subtly alter our sense of time and connection.

From summer mornings and daily rituals to the emotional pacing of historic interiors, this conversation examines why certain places stay with us long after we leave them, and what Charleston reveals about hospitality at its best.

Topics covered include:

• Historic homes as lived environments
• Southern porch culture and social connection
• Hospitality as rhthym and ritual
• Atmosphere, pacing, and memory
• Why summer in Charleston feels distinct

RESOURCES:

• Visit the John Rutledge House Inn's website here.
• Follow along on Instagram and/or Facebook.

Read about Charleston!
Start here: www.arcadiapublishing.com/GRANDMILLENNIAL
Code: GRANDMILLENNIAL

If you enjoy Grandma’s Silver, follow the podcast and share this episode with a friend who loves heritage, design, and timeless living.