There are heirloom vegetables, of course. The tasty varieties of tomatoes your grandparents grew up on, instead of the red/orange globes that taste like nothing.

Then I noticed a store selling “heirloom sewing supplies”.

Some dictionary defines “heirloom” as

A valued possession passed down in a family through succeeding generations.

I read that, and I’m glad to see a resurgence of heirloominess. We surely go through “retro” ages, but that’s more about fashion than values. Retro pants, retro hair, retro music.

Vintage seems like a half-way point between “retro” and “heirloom”. Maybe.  Or maybe “vintage” is just “retro” with a longer time-horizon.  The 1960s are retro.  The 1920s are vintage.

But “heirloom” points to a valued possession (or craft) that has been kept up with through the generations, like a spoken history.  Something we’ve reflected upon and decide it’s worthwhile to keep alive.  Retro/vintage is more about looking back and cherry-picking something to bring back to life, if just for a little while.

“Ye Olde” on the other hand, is just kitsch.  Anyone who owns a Ye Olde Ice Cream Shoppe needs to be locked in Ye Olde Town Stocks for a fortnight.