[Scmusenet] A Native American Festival - Sat. Nov. 18 at the Hagood Mill

[Allen Coleman]

A Native American Festival

Saturday November 18 at the Hagood Mill

 

In observance of Native American Heritage Month, the Pickens County Cultural Commission invites you to join the friends of the Pickens County Museum for a special, and free, day of milling, memories and a Native American Festival at the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center. The Mill will be operating, rain or shine, on Saturday, November 18 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. This 1845 gristmill, with its' 20 ft. overshot wooden waterwheel, is one of the oldest mills still producing grain products in South Carolina.


Gale McKinley, Folklife Director for Hagood Mill and Past President of South Carolina Traditional Arts Network, says that the three main groups that influenced traditions in the Upcountry of South Carolina were the Native Americans (mainly Cherokee), Europeans, and Africans (brought over as slaves). We are a blending of these three cultures and their traditions. Many of our food, medicine, music and religious traditions have blended for well over 200 years. McKinley, a 2004 South Carolina Folk Heritage Award recipient, will also be demonstrating the traditional craft of her family - making baskets from white oak splints.

 

This festival celebrates our Native American influences. A number of groups will be represented. They include individuals born and raised here as well as those who have made South Carolina their home. They include the Cherokee, Catawba, Lakota Sioux, Mohawk, Oneida, Navaho and others.

 

Dr. Will Goins, Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of South Carolina says that, in 2005, the state gave official recognition to four South Carolina Native American groups. Dr. Goins, appearing courtesy of the South Carolina Humanities Council, will talk with visitors about these groups and other Native American history, culture and tradition.

 

Beckee Garris, Catawba potter and storyteller, will be on hand to demonstrate Native American pottery techniques at the Murphree log cabin. Beckee, great-granddaughter of the late Chief Sam Blue and the granddaughter of the late Chief Albert Sanders, Sr., will also do some storytelling at the main music stage throughout the day.

 

The Reedy River InterTribal Association, part of the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of SC; have recently built a Traditional Long House and Trading Post near Grey Court, SC. Group leader, Pat Langley, states that the group counts about 90 members. Many of the members will participate in the festivities of the day which will include: traditional drumming, singing, dancing, Native American flute playing, Cherokee ladies singing hymns in the Cherokee language and many traditional crafts. Demonstrations will be going on all day throughout the Mill Site. Many of the participants will have traditional handmade crafts for sale, as well.

 

Native American flute player, Roger Whitmire, with Bob Chastain accompanying on the drum, will perform on the main music stage several times during the day.

 

Demonstrations and fare for the day will include: Bob Chastain demonstrating traditional Cherokee blow-gun making and shooting; Bob McGinn, a.k.a. "Trapper Bob", will demonstrate the technique of brain-tanning hides; Cherokee Braves Re-enactor, Roger Taylor, will set up his circa 1865 Civil War tent, and will have leather bags, necklaces and other Indian crafts for sale. Others crafts presented will be flint-knapping, finger-weaving, bow and arrow shooting, and more.

 

Dana Sammons of "Traditional Originals / Designs by Dana", will offer her unique bead and leather jewelry for sale. Bob Grumbles, Pat Langley and others will have beautiful beaded jewelry and other handmade items for sale.

 

McKinley adds that, "demonstrations of food-way traditions such as stone grinding of cornmeal, cooking fry-bead on a stick over an open fire, and stone-baked bread will take place throughout the day. For a small donation to The Reedy River InterTribal Group you can sample their fried apple pies." Also, cookmaster Wayne Link will share her own brand of open-hearth cooking demonstrations in the Murphree cabin.

 

As part of the celebration, the Foothills Chapter of the SC Archaeological Society will be present for free artifact identification, as will the mill site's regular flintknapper, Steve Compton, showing how stone tools and weapons were made. 

 

For a special treat, mill volunteer, Danielle Buckheister, will have on site her horse that is actually descended from the first horses brought to the continent by the Spanish.

 

All this, combined with the mill's regular volunteer demonstrations of milling, blacksmithing, moonshining, spinning, weaving, quilting, woodcarving and more, should make it a day not to miss. Bring your lawn chairs, enjoy a plate of barbeque, a hot dog or some Native Fry Bread and experience a day at the Mill and a great time at this wonderful celebration of American Indian culture. Show your support for the Mill and the Pickens County Museum by joining them at this monthly Third Saturday event. The Hagood Mill operates, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month and is located just 3 miles north of Pickens or 5 ½ miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic Hwy 11 off SC Hwy 178 at 138 Hagood Mill Road. Hagood Mill is now open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00, to tour the buildings and grounds and to visit the Mill Site Gift Shop.

 

Part of "Music in the Mountains 2006", the Native American Festival is sponsored by a private benefactor and a donation from the Duke Power Company. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

For additional information please contact the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963.

 

 

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