Creating custom, American-made, wooden flags made from whiskey and wine barrels
The Heritage Flag Company exists to Handcraft History and Reclaim American Pride with the finest craftsmanship.
We are proud Americans chasing the American Dream through our craft. To us, the American dream is the idea that we can all achieve success if we dedicate ourselves to strong values and hold the highest standards.
Our Mission
Our mission is to Reclaim American Pride through one-of-a-kind handcrafted works of art that are to be cherished for generations to come.
Our Values
Our People Matter
We have empathy to view situations through the eyes of others and allow compassion to guide our interactions with customers, business partners and coworkers. We use our creativity and passion to encourage, inspire and energize. We aspire to develop meaningful, life long relationships with our customers ,suppliers and each other.
Our Culture Matters
We are a company that fosters innovation, imagination, critical thinking and determination. We have the courage to dream and embrace the adventure that results from opportunity. We strive for excellence in everything we do and hold each other accountable when we fall short.
Our Heritage Matters
We are proud to be American! The hard work, service and sacrifice of so many that have come before us is why we have the opportunities we have today. If we spend time honoring, understanding and learning from the past, we can create a better future for all Americans!
Our Products Matter
We are proud to be the original wooden flag company but understand that being the first is never good enough. There is a reason the rearview mirror is smaller than the windshield. We must remain focused on accepting nothing but the finest craftsmanship no matter the cost. Everything from our raw materials to our finished products must tell a story of American Pride!
Our Story
The Heritage Flag Company ® created the first ever Barrel Wood American Flag as a gift. A gift that came from a dream to say thank you to 3 veterans starting a brewery in Southern Pines, North Carolina in 2014. Little did anyone know where that dream would go.
IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT, HEATH AWOKE
FROM HIS DREAM—HALF ASLEEP, HE SKETCHED
HIS IDEA FOR THE FIRST BARREL WOOD FLAG.
I met with the guys from the brewery one day to look at the blueprints and saw a room that aged beer in whiskey and wine barrels. I had never heard of that. From there, I could just see it.
In 2014, custom home builder and cabinet maker Heath Trigg was in the midst of working on a special project—building a unique bar for a local brewery that had just been started by three veterans. An artist and craftsman, Heath knew he wanted to build something beautiful for the brewery, and was inspired by whiskey and wine barrels in which the brew masters aged beer.
Heath ended up building a stunning bar wrapped in whiskey and wine staves from the barrels in which the beer was aged.
But his project wasn't complete.
"My wife and I had been trying to think of something to make the guys at Southern Pines Brewery as a surprise gift for the opening, and I woke up at 3am dreaming about an American Flag. I sketched it out on a shopping list and when I came down to the shop the next morning, we made it."
The community responded enormously well to the flag.
"When people saw the first flag we made and started asking for more, I told them to go online. The problem was they kept coming back and telling me that it didn't exist. No one else had made an American Flag from whiskey barrels. Today, we actually have a US patent on an American Flag made out of whiskey barrels. We have a patent on an American Flag. How crazy is that?"
An unpredictable series of events led to Heath presenting another flag to a Three-Star General that was hung in the main entrance of the Pentagon a month later. During that trip, a private tour of Arlington changed the course of Heath's life.
"Arlington changed everything for me. While I had two very successful businesses at the time, I came home from that trip and told my guys, 'I'm chasing the flag. If you need to do something else to support your family, now is the time to start looking.' And I didn't lose a single guy."
Heath's time at Arlington opened up his eyes to a whole world of sacrifice he hadn't considered.
I didn't even know what a gold star family was before all of this—and now some of the most special flags we make have a 22 carat gold star gilded in them.
Many people ask Heath why the flag stuck. Of all the things he could have built, of all the things he could have crafted, why choose the American flag?
"The reality is, the flag chose me and it stuck because there was nothing out there like it. It is wild that in 2014 we created the wooden flag market. We are the original wooden flag company and that is wild to think about. In a very short amount of time I've had the honor of meeting people all over the country, and to each person the flag means something a little different. From sacrifice and loss, to opportunity and strength. It represents a bond that unites us all as Americans. The sacrifices that some have made to defend our heritage and our freedom is something most can’t comprehend. But through it all, the American flag is a common denominator. The flag of the United States was made to unite the people, and that's exactly what it does."
Heath feels an enormous sense of pride of bringing awareness and preservation to such an important national mark.
I love that this company has helped put the meaning of the flag into perspective—not just for me, but for a lot of people.
"There's a lot of people that resonate with our flags because we are the original wooden flag company but the texture, the heritage, and the history behind the barrels each flag is made of is truly special. That's something you can't just make up. It is absolutely unbelievable what has happened from this dream."
"We have the most incredible team here, from the craftsmen to the ladies in the shop, it's unbelievable. Every single guy here is an artist. What's so crazy about every one of these flags is that it's not possible for any two to be the same. They're art. And that is something that absolutely, positively does not get old."
"I always say, we are on journey to the top of Mt. Everest, and we are just putting our shoes on. That's the name of our game right now. The sky is the limit. We're working really hard to focus on the quality of products that we (and our customers demand), and grow smart."
"Our company is about making every single one of those flags mean something. We are going to continue to give to people who deserve it. We run a for-profit business, but in doing so are able to make money for non-profits. It's the best of both worlds. We can continue to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for people who need it. Now, there are Heritage Flags in every US state and 28 countries. It's insane. And we have not even gotten started yet."