Fall Heritage Days draws thousands to museum
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Visitors, including about 1,600 schoolchildren, turned out for the Museum of Appala- chia’s Fall Heritage Days event last Friday. The event continues this week on Thursday and Friday. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Dr. Carvinstein, also known as Ken Clayton, demonstrates a skill he’s been honing since he was 12 years old during last Friday’s Fall Heritage Days event at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris. Looking on, from left, are Jessica Bender, Vickie Gibbs and Leanna Keen, 8, visiting from Farragut Intermediate School. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Schoolchildren visiting the Museum of Appalachia for Fall Heritage Days on Friday, Oct. 25, join in square dancing to the music of the Museum of Appalachia Band. - G. Chambers Williams III
There were thousands of guests from East Tennessee and beyond on hand to enjoy the first two days of this year’s Fall Heritage Days at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris last Thursday and Friday.
The event continues this week, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday and Friday (Oct. 31-Nov. 1).
Museum President Lindsey Gallaher predicted that there would be as many as 6,000 guests participating during the four days of the festival this year.
“We have more than 1,600 students here today,” she said at lunchtime Friday. “They’re here from Anderson, Knox, Roane, Scott, Sevier and Morgan counties.”
She said there are more than fall-oriented 35 activities lined up for guests to see or participate in.
The event features more than 20 exhibitors who demonstrate such activities as sheep shearing, sheep herding, weaving, soap carving, coopering, wool spinning, blacksmithing, bean stringing, sorghum making, rug hooking, pumpkin carving, beekeeping and more.
Products made on the site include sorghum molasses, apple butter and freshly churned butter.
Other activities include lard rendering, candle dipping, and the making of lye soap, Gallaher said.
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 even some 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.
Tickets may be purchased online at 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.
The museum, founded by John Rice Irwin in 1969, is a non-profit organization that is also an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
Gallaher is a granddaughter of Irwin.