he Riverwood Craftsmen have been active since the summer of 1930, when Ralph Siler Morgan Sr. and his son began hand-hammering pewter at Penland School of Crafts in Western North Carolina. Ralph Jr. was 17 years old and had just finished his junior year in high school.

Miss Lucy Morgan, founder of the Penland School, wanted to add metal craft to other work being done at the school, and so her nephew young Ralph became the first worker in pewter at Penland. He went on to the University of North Carolina and became a physician, but continued the production of fine pewter pieces by teaching the art to two brothers, Ray and Dee Shook.

The Shook brothers worked for the Morgan family for many years under Ralph Morgan's guidance. Along the way, Mrs. Ralph Morgan began to manage the business working with these same craftsmen.