About Us
Appalachian Candle Company was brought to life by East Tennessee Native Joseph Townsend, originally in 2009. He felt a need for high quality candles that could actually deliver what they promise.
In July of 2018 Joseph decided to sell his company, but he wanted to keep it in the family. Stefanie Gorman is excited to announce that she has acquired her family business. Appalachian Candle Company will continue to be a family owned candle company that offers premium, wonderfully scented, hand poured, clean burning, long lasting, organic soy candles.
Stefanie grew up in the mountains of East Tennessee. Stefanie went on to graduate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2006 with her Bachelor’s in Political Science and Communications. Upon graduation she moved to Atlanta, GA, where she earned her Master’s in Early Childhood Education from Oglethorpe University and became an elementary school teacher. Stefanie got married in 2012 to Steve Gorman, and the spirit of the Appalachian Mountains called the Gormans back to Tennessee in 2013. Stefanie is a passionate elementary school teacher who loves teaching, inspiring, and positively changing the lives of her students.
Fast forward to today, there are hundreds of wholesale accounts we service daily. Soy candles are hand poured daily in a quaint shop on our property in Tennessee utilizing electric powered wax vats, and the rest is all by hand. There is no machine pouring our soy candles. Appalachian Candle Company now has over 30 independent sales reps, two in house reps, and a loving owner.
All candles are not created equally. Appalachian Candle Company uses fragrance loads that far exceed what most use in the industry today. This produces a wonderfully fragrant candle. We are able to achieve this by using a unique cooling and curing process along with custom cotton wicks. The result is a clean burning, long lasting candle. Being well known for alcohol inspired fragrances such as Hillbilly Homebrew, Maple Bourbon, Sangrias and Tennessee Bourbon we make our mark on the candle industry. We failed to mention that our fragrances are all blended essential oils, and are true to life such as mouthwatering blueberry cobbler or lemon poppy, or when Christmas rolls around our Christmas Morning which is an amazing dead ringer of a Christmas tree.
The next chapter of Appalachian Candle Company is thrilled to introduce a literacy initiative. We have a literacy epidemic in the US. No matter where you live or what your economic or social status is there are children and adults who cannot read. If we can put more books in the hands of children, we can inspire a love of reading at an early age. Stefanie’s passion for educating children will continue through our new Shining a Light on Literacy program. A portion of all candle sales will help fund special book sharing libraries across the country. When someone purchases a candle, it helps to put a book in a child’s hands. We hope to inspire a book sharing program where children can come and get a book to read and/or donate a book for someone else to have the joy of reading it. If you’re interested in donating new or used books to our Shining a Light on Literacy program you can email: books@appalachiancandleco.com
Appalachian Candle Company hopes that we can spread hope, love, joy, and shine a light on literacy while inspiring you on your journey.