Anvil shoots echo America’s past
-
Visitors to the Independence Day celebration at the Museum of Appalachia in Norris watch as a blacksmith’s anvil is blown high into the air with a charge of gunpowder on Saturday, July 4. - G. Chambers Williams III
-
Revolutionary War militia re-enactors march across the grounds of the Museum of Appalachia on Saturday (July 4) during the museum’s activities observing Independence Day and America’s 250th birthday. - G. Chambers Williams III
Thousands of people turned out at the Museum of Appalachia last Friday and Saturday to take part in two days of events to observe America’s 250th birthday, July 3 and 4.
The highlight of the celebrations both days were the museum’s anvil shoots, a frontier tradition in which a blacksmith’s anvil is blown high into the sky using a pile of gunpowder.
Other activities included Revolutionary War living-history programming, historical interpretations, and traditional Appalachian demonstrations.
Anvil shoots were used by pioneers to celebrate holidays, elections, military victories, and other major occasions, and are one of the museum’s most anticipated annual traditions.
Additional activities at the museum in Norris included a Revolutionary War encampment, militia drills, and historical presentations from reenactors portraying figures such as John Sevier, Henry Knox, and David Hall.
Visitors were able to observe the traditions of colonial and pioneer life through demonstrations and hands-on activities including blacksmithing, basket making, broom making, leatherworking, quilting, rug hooking, coopering, wood carving, lye soap making, candle dipping, pioneer cooking, wash-tub canning, flintknapping, powder-horn demonstrations, storytelling, crosscut sawing, shape-note singing, sassafras tea demonstrations, and more.
Additional highlights included a liberty-pole raising and flag procession each day, along with colonial seamstress demonstrations, live music, Southern food, and a national bell-ringing ceremony commemorating America’s 250th anniversary.
The two-day celebration was supported in part by the Tennessee Commission for the United States Semiquincentennial, which gave the museum two “Tennessee America 250” grants totaling $29,500.
The Museum of Appalachia is a Smithsonian affiliate that helps to preserve and interpret the history and culture of Southern Appalachia through historic log structures, artifacts, and daily demonstrations of traditional skills and music.
