About
Ten Oaks products are proudly made in Stuart, Virginia, USA.
Ten Oaks solid hardwood flooring adds timeless beauty and style to any room, home, or commercial space. Our state-of-the-art manufacturing operation, located in the beautiful foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, sources 100% of our fine Appalachian hardwood from Verified Sustainable Hardwood Forests. Our flooring not only exhibits a tradition of quality that comes from more than a century of combined experience, but also an eye to the future with our revolutionary Six Side Seal©.
Stuart Lumber Company
In May of 1922, four local citizens of Patrick County incorporated Stuart Lumber Company to utilize the vast timber resources located in and around the county. Those incorporators included: Flem Ross, Joel Marshall, Larkin Cockram, and A. Leon Powell. For the next 17 years, these men rotated as President, General Manager, and Directors.
VIRGIL R. WILLIAMS
In 1949, Stuart Lumber Company was sold to Virgil R. Williams, a sawmiller by trade, who became President and General Manager. "V. R.," as he was known, operated the plant with the help of many of his eight sons. (He also had four daughters who were not involved in the business) His sons worked part-time driving trucks from the time they were 14, handling lumber and 'fixing' things.
BUDDY E. WILLIAMS
In 1957, V.R.'s son, Buddy E. Williams, returned from the Nashville Auto Diesel College to join his father full time at Stuart Lumber Company. It was his intentions to help keep up the company's rolling stock. However, by this same time, the flooring industry had peaked after the government approved the use of wall-to-wall carpet in their housing loans. By the early 1970s, of the 120 flooring mills in the United States, only 12 remained in operation.
STUART BOARD COMPANY
In 1969, in an effort to survive the downturn in strip flooring, the father and son management team expanded Stuart Lumber Company by adding particleboard manufacturing to its portfolio of wood forest products. Not only was the company able to use shavings from the flooring plant to produce particleboard, but ninety-five percent of the furniture industry was located within a 100-mile radius of the plant. The company rebranded and became known as Stuart Board Company.
Masonite Corporation
In 1977, Stuart Board Company became a division of Masonite Corporation and swelled to 200 employees. It continued to make particleboard for the surrounding furniture giants located in Bassett, Stanleytown, Galax, and High Point. With no interest in the flooring industry, Masonite closed its flooring operation in 1979.
Stuart Flooring Corporation
In 1982, Buddy left Masonite Corporation to strike out on his own business venture. He purchased the moth-balled strip flooring operation from the Masonite Corporation and moved the machinery across town to a spot on the Mayo River along Dobyns Road. In July of 1984, he launched Stuart Flooring Corporation with one half of a strip flooring manufacturing line.
Tarkett Flooring
In 1998, running steady with four full lines of flooring manufacturing, Buddy sold the Stuart Flooring mill to Tarkett Flooring. He remained the General Manager until 2003. In April of 2010, Shaw Industries, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathway, Inc., purchased the Stuart Flooring mill from Tarkett to add to its wood flooring manufacturing portfolio.
Ten Oaks, LLC
In 2004, Buddy purchased the T. George Vaughan Furniture from the Vaughan-Bassett Furniture Company building located in the Rich Creek Corporate Park in Stuart, Virginia. With a blank slate of 260,000 square feet and 34 acres of land, the sixty-seven-year-old entrepreneur and his family members started Ten Oaks, LLC with a simple idea: make hardwood flooring better.
Six Side Seal
After two years of research and development, Ten Oaks shipped its first truck of solid strip hardwood flooring with each piece's six sides sealed to help reduce exposure to moisture, dirt, and job site debris, and the natural wood's need to acclimate before installation. Thus began Ten Oaks' new venture with the patented Six Side Seal.
Ten Oaks Dobyns
After fourteen years of steady growth, Ten Oaks expanded to fill almost all of its 260,000 square feet and 34 acres of land at the original Progress Drive location. With a need to expand its raw materials processing capability in order to increase production, Ten Oaks took advantage of the opportunity to purchase the old Stuart Flooring mill from Shaw Industries after Shaw announced the plant would close at the end of 2017. With more elbow room, Ten Oaks continues to expand its production of solid, hardwood flooring to offer a wider array of products to its customers.
