Fall Heritage Days return to museum Oct. 24
Visitors from East Tennessee and beyond are expected to participate in this year’s Fall Heritage Days at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, which will be held on four dates this year, beginning Friday, Oct. 24.
The event will continue the following week, on Thursday and Friday, Oct. 30-31, and conc1ude with a final day on Friday, Nov. 7.
Hours each day will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The museum is expecting about 6,000 guests to attend the four days of the festival this year.
About 35 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 the events take place.
Tickets may be purchased online at museumofappalachia.org. Groups may contact bookings@museumofappalachia.org or call 865-494-7680 for tickets.
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 nonprofit organization that is also an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
