Museum of Appalachia’s Fall Heritage Days return
Draft horse Ethel takes a break from pulling the sugar cane mill for sorghum making at the Museum of Appalachia during Fall Heritage Days last Friday. Ethel is part of the Stooksbury farm demonstration. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Hundreds of participants showed up last Friday for the opening day of the event, which each year attracts thousands of people to the museum – including busloads of school children – from East Tennessee and beyond.
Each day, the hours for the event are 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and there is plenty of free parking available on the grounds of the museum.
The museum is in Norris along Andersonville Highway (Tenn. 61) about two miles east of the Interstate 75 Exit 122 interchange.
“The event embraces the spirit of autumn with pumpkin carving, fall crafts, and the aroma of sorghum molasses cooking over an open fire,” said Will Meyer, the museum’s marketing director and grandson of founder John Rice Irwin. “Guests can sip sassafras tea and listen to spooky mountain stories that capture the folklore of early Appalachia.
“Interactive activities, including crosscut sawing, quill-pen writing, candle dipping, spelling bees, and classic pioneer games, offer fun, educational ways to connect with the past,” he said.
Folklore and colonial history presentations, old-fashioned schoolhouse lessons, Appalachian music, shape-note singing, and animal encounters are among activities scheduled for the event.
Admission includes a self-guided tour of the museum’s 11-acre pioneer village, featuring more than 30 historic log structures, heirloom gardens, heritage livestock, and Appalachian artifacts.
The museum, founded by Irwin in 1969, is a nonprofit organization that is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
