Blue Ridge Soap Shed

Specialties

Established in 1998, The Blue Ridge Soap Shed offers one of the largest selections of handmade soap made in the USA, with 130 varieties ranging from good-​for-​your-​skin goat milk soap, shea butter and 100% Olive Oil Castile soaps, to Grandma’s Olé Lye Soap, an Appalachian tradition.

History

Established in 1998.

The Soap Shed makes its handmade soap completely from scratch, combining raw ingredients like tropical oils, goat milk, herbs and exotic vegetable butters in original original recipes. Each batch is handmade and handpoured, with each resulting block cut into logs, then bars and packaged by hand. The small differences from batch to batch and bar to bar confirm the handmade charm of the soapmaking craft.

Handmade soap making demonstrations are provided daily during warm weather months (May through October) by retired science professor and Master Soapmaker, ‘Dr. T.’ Visitors are welcome to view whatever aspect of the handmade soapmaking operation is being conducted at the time of their visit, including soapmaking, cutting or packaging.

Open May through October, The Soap Shed’s retail shop is easily located off Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 331 in Spruce Pine, NC, one hour south of Boone and one hour northeast of Asheville. The Soap Shed’s web store at www​.soap​shed​.com is open year round.

Meet the Business Owner

Dr. Tim T.

Business Owner

Tim Tyndall is a former science professor put back to work by his wife, Karen, a business and training consultant. Fortunately, soapmaking came naturally to Tim!

After graduating from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a major in botany and biology, and later with graduate degrees from North Carolina State University, ‘Dr. T.’ taught chemistry for many years at the high school and community college levels. His last academic position before relocating to the mountains was Director of Engineering and Science Programs at UNC-​Charlotte. We are proud to have such built-​in quality assurance and creativity resident at the Soap Shed.

Dr. Tyndall is a faculty member at the John C. Campbell Folk School, teaching handmade soapmaking there since 2002, and is a frequently requested demonstrator of handmade soapmaking at regional and state events.