Museum plans four Fall Heritage Days
David Adams discusses some of his leather work with visitors to last year’s Fall Heritage Days event at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The event will conclude the following week on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 29-30, and the museum is expecting about 6,000 guests to attend the four days of the festival this year.
Hours each day will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
It’s an annual fall celebration of the skills, crafts, music, and harvest traditions of earlier Appalachia, and it takes place mostly in the museum’s 11-acre Pioneer Village.
A variety of artisans will demonstrate how everyday life in Appalachia once depended on skills such as making clay pottery, weaving baskets, piecing quilts, and making such fall staples as apple butter, prepared over a fire.
About 35 special fall-oriented activities have been lined up for visitors.
That includes about 20 exhibitors who demonstrate processes such as sheep shearing, sheep herding, crosscut sawing, dollmaking, soap carving, coopering, wool spinning and weaving, blacksmithing, bean stringing, sorghum making, rug hooking, pumpkin carving, broom making, chair caning, beekeeping and more.
Products made on the site and available for sale include sorghum molasses, apple butter, and freshly churned butter.
Other activities will include lard rendering, candle dipping, and the making of lye soap.
Bluegrass bands and other entertainers showcase Appalachian music and storytelling throughout each day of the festival.
The Museum of Appalachia is a working demonstration farm, which also has a collection of Appalachian farm buildings, artifacts, implements and more than 70 animals.
Museum staff and volunteers help herd cars into parking lots, and visitors into the barns and animal pen areas where some of the events take place.
“For many young people, Fall Heritage Days is the first time they’ve seen the work behind things they might otherwise take for granted,” said Lindsey Meyer Gallaher, president of the Museum of Appalachia. “When they watch food prepared, tools used, and everyday objects made by hand, history becomes much more tangible. It gives them a better understanding of where things come from and a real appreciation for the ingenuity of the people who came before them.”
Students and families can try crosscut sawing, old-fashioned games, pumpkin painting, and shape-note singing while enjoying the sounds of bluegrass and old-time music.
Admission includes access to the Museum’s 11-acre Pioneer Village, three exhibit buildings, more than 30 historic log structures, working gardens, and dozens of animals.
General admission tickets are available at museumofappalachia.org, with free admission for Museum members.
School, homeschool, and other groups must complete a reservation form on the Museum’s website in advance to reserve their spots.
Sponsored in part by the Tennessee Arts Commission, Fall Heritage Days reflects the museum’s mission to instill a greater knowledge and appreciation for the history and culture of the people of Southern Appalachia.
For questions, visit museumofappalachia.org, call 865-494-7680 or email museum@museumofappalachia.org.
The Museum of Appalachia, at 2819 Andersonville Highway, comprises more than 65 acres with a re-created Appalachian community complete with 35 log cabins, barns, farm animals, churches, schools and gardens.
It displays more than 250,000 artifacts in three buildings, with vast collections of folk art, musical instruments, baskets, quilts, Native American items and more. There is also a restaurant featuring Southern Appalachian country cooking, along with a gift shop selling locally made crafts.