by Juanita | Jul 22, 2025 | Ava Lee's History Corner, Customization, George's Furniture, Georges Difference, Rocking Chairs
A simple piece of wood ends up becoming a chair, a table, a part of your home. You can watch as it all comes together in a place that started someplace else almost 50 years ago.
Wood Shop in Elizabethtown
“It didn’t actually start right here. It started in a house in Elizabethtown, where we lived when we were first married,” explained George Martin’s widow, Ava Lee. George Martin had just returned from voluntary service in Honduras. He spent two years carving wood there, and back home in Pennsylvania, he kept at it. It was a hobby at first. “I knew he had an interest in it,” Ave Lee recalled. “He would have made an excellent farmer as well, but it just seemed God kept pushing us this way.”
In 1974, the Martins opened George’s Woodcrafts, now George’s Furniture, in East Donegal Township, Lancaster County, near Marietta. “We want to just show people what we do, which is it’s a lost art,” Ave Lee said. “Not too many people do this.” You can walk through the wood shop. The first thing you’ll notice is the smell. “Right now, you’re smelling some of the white oak and maybe the walnut,” said craftsman Anthony Heisey, our tour guide.
From start to finish, one craftsman works on each piece.
“We built a business on custom tailoring, so if you bring a design sketched on a napkin, we’ll give it a shot,” Anthony said. “We have just larger machines that you commonly have in your basement. They are longer and wider and safer.” On average, a craftsman makes about two chairs a day. A dresser takes about four days and a large hutch about two weeks, and it’s all Pennsylvania-born. He said the saw mills in central Pennsylvania harvest from the Allegheny Forest area.
There’s no waste.
Wood scraps are used to heat the kiln. They create a lot of dust, so the vacuum system changes the air every 20 minutes. You’ll watch as they carve out the furniture, put it together, spray it. It goes into the stock room for delivery.
Our Famous Rocking Chair in Alaska.
“We shipped a rocking chair to Juneau, Alaska. It was ordered from the bottom of a gold mine,” Anthony said. The rocking chairs are rather famous. When George was 12, he went over backwards on one, hit his head and vowed that if he ever designed a rocking chair, it wasn’t going to tip over. George figured it out. So if you go, give it a try.
George died in 2010. His daughter and son-in-law are at the helm now, but George’s love of the art remains. “You can still hear George talking about how to make things, what not to do, and his standard stays with us here,(on our YouTube Channel) and we’ve held that for 50 years,” Anthony said.
WFMZ Channel 69 interview June 20, 2019, Karin Mallet, Updated Oct 1, 2019
by Juanita | Jun 17, 2025 | customer experience, Events, George's Furniture, Georges Difference, Tables
Our craft shows are a great way for customers to see, feel and touch the furniture. The “No More Water Marks” demonstration grabs the attention of the customers who can’t figure out why someone left water on this beautiful furniture.
Walnut Blend on Table with clear water resistant finish repelling water.
However, the water demonstration was not what caught Barry’s attention as he walked through the show.
Extension table magic
A 4 foot table that can extend up to 12 feet, caught Barry’s attention. The possibilities of what he could do to gather his whole family around one table, whirled around in his mind. A table to use everyday and during the holidays is an amazing idea that he could not pass up. The ease of extension increased the desire to add this table to his home. If he moved to a small house in the future, a smaller table would fit in the new home.
Amish furniture disappointments
Barry and Sabina love quality furniture and purchased Amish furniture in the past, however they were disappointed in the customer service and quality of the furniture.
“It is hard to find genuine people who want to help furnish your house with quality heirlooms,
not just selling you furniture.”
Visit the showroom/woodshop
The Shapiros kept the Georges Furniture brochure handy and eventually took a trip to see where the furniture is made, Marietta, PA in Lancaster County. George’s salespeople listened to Sabina’s furniture requests, walked through every detail of making handcrafted solid wood furniture and helped them decide the best combination of wood and stain to match their living area. They even gave a personalized wood shop tour where the craftsmen make one piece of furniture at a time and sign, date each piece.
In the showroom is where they first saw the corner cupboard, perfect for their home. An expandable table, 6 leaf storage cabinet and corner cupboard were delivered to their home. They have filled their table for a birthday party, Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. Their fine China is neatly displayed in the corner cupboard protected from dust and accidental flying objects.
Return to see more quality
The Shapiros keep coming back to our Chantilly, VA craft shows to see us and dream about new furniture. The beauty of wood grain draws you in and the quality of outstanding. The joy of quality furniture is contagious. Barry and Sabina love to share the quality they found at Georges Furniture with their friends and family. Visit our website georgesfurniturepa.com for more quality or make the trip to see where our furniture is made and where dreams come true.
by Juanita | May 27, 2021 | 50th anniversary, Ava Lee's History Corner, George's Furniture
George realized his natural gift and talent for making quality wood products and wanted to spread the word. The challenge with spreading the word about quality of hand-crafted products is finding customers who appreciate handcrafted items.
Craft shows
George first displayed his wood items at Springs Festival, Springs, PA. He skillfully created live edge furniture such as stools, benches, tables, and bookends. Thin, woven wood-strip baskets and lamp shades characterized his unique, woodworking styles. Throughout the show day, 
George engraved custom plaques ready in one hour. Other larger wood items like rockers, dry sinks, trestle table and benches were available for purchase. Customers also used the furniture to explore the different furniture style options for placing custom orders. For many years, the order placed at the craft show supplied work for the next 12 months. George not only went to Springs festival but also displayed his crafts at the Dutch Family Festival in Lancaster, PA during the summer tourist season.
First Showroom
In 1973, he rented a small showroom at 4 Center Square, Elizabethtown, PA. Later that winter he moved his furniture store to 20 S. Market Street, Elizabethtown, where he sold furniture for thirteen years. This furniture store was quite small but allowed customers to see the quality of craftsmanship made by George and his craftsmen. On Friday and Saturdays, he also had a stand at Meadowbrook Farmer’s Market, Leola, PA. George purchased a 12-acre farm where he moved his wood working shop into the dairy barn.
Showroom and wood shop tours
One added benefit our customers enjoy is touring the wood shop. George moved the showroom to the same location as the wood shop. Allowing customer to view the furniture manufacturing shows everyone the time and attention to detail given to each piece of furniture. The larger showrooms 
present a visual display of completed furniture. Larger furniture-dining room sets, bedroom suites, living room tables, entertainment centers are displayed.
Visit Today
Our two large showrooms are located 9 Reichs Church Road, Marietta, PA, Monday through Saturday. The wood-shop tour exhibits the manufacturing process from raw lumber to finished furniture. Take a trip to our location and enjoy the quality furniture and talk to our design team about a new piece of custom-made furniture. We also display our furniture at craftshows in the Eastern United States. Check our website for updated schedule.
by Juanita | Sep 26, 2020 | Ava Lee's History Corner, customer experience, George's Furniture, Hutch
It all started when Bob and Rachel visited their friend’s home. They noticed beautiful furniture skillfully placed around the living space. Furniture of this quality is hard to find. However, after years of searching, they finally found it right in their friends home. When questioned where the beautiful furniture came from, their friends ecstatically shared the journey that ended at George’s Furniture, Marietta, PA.
Journey begins
Bob had a remodeling project scheduled. After four years the new addition neared completion. Subsequently, they planned a trip to Lancaster County. A beautiful drive from Vermont to Pennsylvania brought Bob and Rachel to George’s Furniture’s showrooms and the wood working shop. During a wood shop tour, Bob and Rachel saw the craftsmen skillfully creating quality heirlooms. Finally they knew this was the birthplace of their new dining room furniture.
Built your way
They met with Anthony and started the journey of designing their desired dining space. After the order was placed and the waiting began. As an added benefit, Anthony sent several pictures of their furniture progression through the wood shop in the different build stages.
Bob quotes,
“Anthony did a fantastic job of working with us patiently while we determined what we wanted even to the point of thinking outside the box of choices to design the legs of the hall tree to match the table legs.”
Careful Delivery
Upon completion, the delivery personnel carefully blanket wrapped the furniture and skillfully placed it in the van for its trip to Vermont. A warm and excited reception greeted Chris and Juanita after a long 8 hour trip in the delivery van. Several neighbors eagerly waited, ready with open arms to transport the table, chairs, table leaf storage, large hutch, buffet, hall tree and 2 non-tip rocking chairs into the house.
“We knew the kind of quality we could expect but when the dining room furniture arrived, we were blown away by the quality of each piece individually and how the whole room of furniture fit together.”
Quality on Display
Rachel’s excitement exploded as she shared their journey discovering George’s Furniture. She looks forward to gathering everyone around the same table in their newly remodeled dining room. Bob and Rachel joined the family of George’s satisfied customer that can’t contain their excitement and love for their furniture. Join the family and create you next new piece of furniture. Come and see where your furniture is built or contact us to started the journey.
by Juanita | Jun 5, 2018 | Events, George's Furniture
Experience York, PA’s annual Made in America Tours Event with the entire family! The 20th anniversary of this event will be taking place June 13th to 16th, 2018. This annual celebration is a load of fun for you and the kids, and offers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at various companies in our county.
From production floors to an alpaca farm, you will be able to explore the inner workings of the businesses who make our beautiful county thrive. George’s Furniture is happy to announce that we will be one of the stops on this exciting tour. Our commitment to high-quality American craftsmanship has allowed our business to flourish for almost 50 years.
While visiting George’s Furniture on the tour, you’ll be transported to a different world where hardwood furniture is made by skilled craftsmen. These craftsmen take great pride in their work, adding their signature to each solid wood piece they create. Enjoy watching handmade, one-of-a-kind furniture being built and imagine the possibilities while walking through our showrooms.
30-40 minute tours will be available the following days and times:
Wednesday, 8am to 4pm
Thursday, 8am to 4pm
Friday, 8am to 2pm.
See the full list of participating businesses on the York, PA website: https://www.yorkpa.org/events/made-in-america-event/
