Polly Rattler

The daughter of Elsie and Leroy Rattler and granddaughter of Morgan and Bertha Rattler and Jake and Lula Wolfe, Polly Rattler’s lineage traced back to the Removal of the Cherokee people. She was born in Cherokee and grew up in both Robbinsville and Cherokee, attending Little Snowbird School, Cherokee Elementary School, and Cherokee High School. Cherokee was her family’s primary language, so Polly Rattler did not learn English until she began attending school. All of her six brothers are carvers and one is also a basketmaker. Polly Rattler learned her crafts from watching her family and other elders. She remembered her Grandmother Bertha Rattler trading baskets for shoes and other needs, and giving Polly the extra splints to learn with.

For many years Polly Rattler attended powwows, demonstrating and selling her work all over the country. She received numerous awards and ribbons at powwows and festivals for her work and has pieces in museums in Cherokee and at the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum in Tennessee. She later began concentrating on filling special orders for her work, spending more time at home in her workshop. Her elegantly detailed corn shuck dolls are special ordered by stores and galleries in North Carolina, New York, Washington State, and Oklahoma. For many years she demonstrated at the “Village of Yesteryear” at the North Carolina State Fair in Raleigh. She was also a member of Qualla Arts and Crafts Mutual.

Polly Rattler passed away on August 31, 2018, at the age of 63.