September 14, 2009, 8:49 pm
The annual Mountain Life Festival at the Mountain Farm
Museum in Great Smoky Mountains National Park is scheduled Saturday,
September 19, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. During this 75th anniversary year
of the park, the event will showcase Appalachian folkways and pay
tribute to the many families who lived on lands that would later become
the national park.
The centerpiece of the event is the sorghum syrup
demonstration, which the national park has provided each fall for
almost 40 years. The syrup is made much the same way it was produced a
hundred or more years ago, using a horse-powered cane mill and
wood-fired cooker. The syrup making demonstration is provided by
students, staff, and volunteers from Swain County High School through a
cooperative agreement with Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the
Great Smoky Mountains Association. The association is the national
park’s non-profit partner that operates the bookstores in the park’s
visitor centers.
Other activities during the day will include hearth
cooking, apple butter and apple cider making, blacksmithing, lye soap
making, food preservation, broom making, quilting, and chair bottoming.
Artifacts and historic photographs from the national park's collection
will also be on display. Music will be provided by Marshall Crowe and
the Bluegrass Singers. Featured participants at this year’s event
include Ron and Suzanne Joyner from Big Horse Creek Farm in Ashe
County, N.C. whose small, family-owned orchard and nursery maintains
more than 300 varieties of custom-grafted heirloom apple trees; Annie
Lee Bryson from Sylva, N.C., making cornshuck dolls; the Woodard family
from Bryson City, N.C., making hominy; and Roy Henson from Tennessee
will provide a display of traditional toys.
"During the event, visitors can explore the preserved
collection of Southern Appalachian farm buildings assembled here from
their original locations throughout the Park," said Park Ranger Lynda
Doucette. "Most of the structures, including a chestnut log farmhouse,
date from about 1900, giving a glimpse into the past, and with the
demonstrations that are planned, visitors can gain a better
understanding of the rural heritage of this country," she added.
The Mountain Farm Museum is located adjacent to the park’s
Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Newfound Gap Road (US 441), two miles
north of Cherokee, N.C.
All activities are free and open to the public. For more information call the visitor center at (828) 497-1904.
