This website is dedicated to the thousands of collectors, old & new fans & followers, all those whose lives I have touched and have followed me over the decades. I THANK YOU ALL… and now… It’s PAY BACK TIME! So, here’s my gift to you: 


  • FREE - Downloads of my MUSIC, INDIVIDUAL SONGS or entire "STILL ALIVE" album!
  • FREE - National Value Guides for both Cowboy & Wildlife Collector Societies!
  • FREE - Historical Information of all my Sculptures, Cowboys, & Wildlife!
  • FREE - Defenders of the Flag - "A Veterans' Tribute" Poem - Suitable for Framing

(This will put a lump in your throat and maybe even a tear in your eye.)


Click on the sections below for additional information on each category.

NO SCULPTURES ARE FOR SALE ON THIS WEBSITE. ALL HAVE BEEN RETIRED. INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY.

(However, you can order an actual CD of the “Still Alive” album in a jewel case if you wish or download it all for free.)

Shade Tree Creations, Inc. & Bill Vernon Studios were my wholesale manufacturing companies that produced all the Cowboys and Wildlife, Limited Edition, Poly-resin, Collectible Figurines starting back in the 1980’s. We also produced many other product lines. There were well over 14,000 “registered Cowboy Collectors” in 1998 at the time of the fire. If I had to guess, there are probably twenty or thirty times that number who DID NOT officially register. The Wildlife was somewhat less as it was much newer. To this day, I continue to get phone calls, emails and letters from many of our Collector Society Members. Due to the longevity spanning several decades I often hear from the heirs of those original Collectors who have passed away wanting more info. Humbled by the success of both collectible lines, I decided to assemble all the historical information I could find on both Cowboys and Wildlife lines and post it on my website so everyone would have information as to what they have. This is the result.

As for Bill Vernon Music, I’ve played several instruments since I was about 11 years old. It is my love and my hobby. No lessons and I never learned to read music. I no longer play out or in bands. I write songs, play all the instruments, do the vocals and record it all in my personal recording studio. When the real estate crash / great recession came in 2008, I was developing land which went dead in the water for several years. I had very little to do. Tough times so, I completed several songs I had written over the years. I finished the Still Alive CD, released it, then immediately dropped it like a hot potato at the exact same time that the economy turned around. I went back to work 24/7 finishing up Featherstone, my last mountain development. I had too…I had to make some money!!! Making money in music is a tough row to hoe unless you pretty much sell your soul to it. Not for me! I decided to re-release my CD “Still Alive” and at the same time provide answers to the thousands of Collectors who have followed or contacted me over all these years with so many questions. It’s all for fun now folks! I hope you enjoy my website and THANKS for stopping by!

Bill Vernon in fire Still Alive Album

Bill Vernon Music

"Still Alive" Album with 13 original songs! Download one or all - FREE!
The Series of Evolution, Limited Edition Wildlife Sculptures Wolf - Night Spirit Gray Wolf - Snow - Deer

Bill Vernon Studios - Wildlife Sculpture

The Series of Evolution, Limited Edition
Shade Tree Cowboys Created by Artist Bill Vernon - How Come Nobody's Ever Listening - Housework Stinks
Shade Tree Cowboys Created by STAFF ARTISTS - fisherman - couch potato
Defenders of the Flag by Bill Vernon with Poem
the Shade Tree Fire of 1998 Bill Vernon lost most everything
shade tree and bill vernon national values guide cowboys

Cowboys National Value Guide

A complete listing of all Cowboy Sculptures including quantity produced, historical information, & secondary market values.
bill vernon series of evolution wildlife national values guide
Featherstone in Franklin North Carolina at sunset

Featherstone

As the morning sun warms the Great Smoky Mountains of western North Carolina, 185 acres known as Featherstone, awakens as power from the heavens touches the mountains and they smoke...

Featherstone is a development community in Franklin, NC. - NEARLY SOLD OUT!

Bill Vernon - Artist, Land Developer, Songwriter, Musician

bill vernon with guitar

From Ft. Lauderdale, FL to Gainesville, FL, to Franklin, North Carolina, my life as an artist has been driven by my drive for creativity. Over the years, I’ve explored multiple disciplines, from creating and sculpting figurines, mold making, gifts, novelties, home décor, music and on to sculpting mountains into high-quality mountain homesites with magnificent views. 


Business & Sculpting Work


My career as an entrepreneur, then artist, sculptor and mold maker began in 1974 and spanned three decades.  During that time my main company’s Shade Tree Creations, Inc. & Bill Vernon Studios produced a wide variety of product lines that were sold wholesale to gift shops, tourist areas like Yellowstone, department stores etc. throughout the US and some overseas.  At one time I had two permanent retail gift / home décor stores, one in Leesburg, Fl and one in Gatlinburg, TN selling largely the products that we manufactured but other items as well.  I further expanded our retail operations to fifty kiosk locations in states from Florida to Texas to Pennsylvania and had a total of 300 + employees with 90+ in the factory.  The day to day of running the operations was getting to the point where it simply was not fun anymore, so I downsized almost overnight and moved to the mountains of WNC.

 

Of all the various lines I produced, the most popular of these were the Shade Tree Cowboys and the Series of Evolution Wildlife Sculpture. These collectible and limited-edition figurines have been cherished by tens of thousands of collectors which continue to this very day via secondary markets.  All my artwork and figurines have been retired since around 2004 but can still be found for sale all over the internet with simple searches. Their popularity has truly amazed me which is why I decided to create this website which is a full and accurate history of my work so my collectors can learn what they have and the history behind their sculptures. I am grateful to the community of supporters who have appreciated my work and have followed me over all the years.  In 1998, a devastating fire destroyed my manufacturing facility in Franklin, NC, along with nearly all my sculptures, molds, and records. Despite this significant loss, I rebuilt and continued to create but on a much smaller scale until 2004. 



Music


I’ve played music all my life.  My first gig was when I was in about seventh grade when my brother and our school buddy Larry played on Captain Al Start’s Dinner Cruise Ship going up and down the intercoastal waterway in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  I don’t care much about playing out or in bands or going on the road.  In fact, I won’t do it.  I’m just doing my solo “thing”.  


Music has always been more than just a hobby for me; it is my escape!  When you are playing music you are unable to think about all the “stuff” that stresses us out.  I usually play my guitar, piano or drums every night if even for a short time.  It unwinds me, relaxes me and clears my head.  


Over the years, I have written and recorded numerous songs, a few of which are compiled on my "Still Alive" album CD on this website.  Will there be more songs to come?  Probably will since I usually have 5-6 floating around in my head at any given time.  I don’t always write them down so some have come and gone.  That’s okay, some come back and other new songs come to me quite easily.  Just another blessing.  Life has been very good to me and I’m truly enjoying life here on my mini-farm in the beautiful mountains of WNC.  I will admit, I am getting lazier by the day, but I never say never and I do love playing around in my recording studio.  So, stay tuned, THANKS for visiting and…

All the best!

Bill Vernon