Museum celebrates Appalachian crafts, food, music with fall homecoming

Photo by Bob Fowler // Buy this photo

Howard Tuggle of Andersonville pours a cup of sassafras tea Wednesday during Heritage Day at the Museum of Appalachia. The day is set aside for some 5,000 young visitors and is held one day before the annual Tennessee Fall Homecoming at the museum.

Photo by Bob Fowler

Howard Tuggle of Andersonville pours a cup of sassafras tea Wednesday during Heritage Day at the Museum of Appalachia. The day is set aside for some 5,000 young visitors and is held one day before the annual Tennessee Fall Homecoming at the museum.

With fall’s cool days and crisp nights upon us, it’s time to start enjoying the outdoors again. The Museum of Appalachia’s “Tennessee Fall Homecoming” is the perfect excuse to do just that.

The homecoming, now in its 31st year, brings nearly 50,000 visitors to the Norris museum, which this year runs Oct. 8-10. The weekend festival has seen dramatic growth over the last 31 years.

Elaine Meyer, who has been with the event since its inception, has seen it grow from what “started with just a wagon and a few band members” to its current incarnation with five stages and enough activities to keep visitors engaged throughout all three days.

The festival began as a way to celebrate Appalachian culture, and at the time, “there weren’t any festivals like it then,” said Meyer.

Meyer’s father and museum founder, John Rice Irwin, began the festival with a few crafts in the fall, including the harvest of sorghum and the creation of sorghum syrup. This was one of the inspirations behind the festival and a reason for it taking place during the early fall months.

The festival’s many crafts demonstrations will include pottery, quilting, basket weaving, homemade apple butter and blacksmithing. Also featured will be splitting shingles, rail splitting, sheep herding, a saw mill demonstration and the making of lye soap.

Entertainment is also on tap for the weekend with musical acts including Kathy Mattea, Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, David Holt and Josh Goforth, Southern Raised, the Berea Bluegrass Ensemble, Paul Williams and Victory Trio, and plenty of impromptu picking on the grounds.

Meyer had a bit of advice for the “newcomers” or those who need a refresher. The festival does not allow pets or coolers and no outside food. As for things not to leave home without, Meyer recommends bringing lawn chairs to sit and enjoy the musical acts, as well as a cap to keep the sun off your head during the day. Other than that, Meyer says to “pretty much come enjoy yourself and stay the whole day.”

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