[Scmusenet] "A Celtic Christmas and Cotton Ginning" Saturday December 15 at the Hagood Mill

[Allen Coleman]

"A Celtic Christmas and Cotton Ginning"

Saturday December 15 at the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center

 

The Pickens County Cultural Commission invites you to a special, and free, day of milling, music and memories at the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center. The Mill will be operating, rain or shine, on Saturday, December 15 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 S.C.

 

Come join the friends of the Pickens County Museum as "Music in the Mountains 2007" continues with the Hagood Mill playing host for a free Celtic Christmas celebration! Hosted by musician, Ed Harrison, and running from 12:00 until 3:00, this three-hour concert and program will be a feast for the ears and will feature Gaelic Truffad (a group with seven singers and four musicians), who will sing French songs from Brittany, Provence and Quebec and who will tell a short story about the traditional Christmas in Provence; the Hendrix Family (Irish music and singing with tin whistle and uilleann pipes); Marshall Goers & Lucy Allen (multi-talented traditionalists); Story-teller, Bill Landrum and uilleann pipers, Daniel Hendrix & Ed Harrison, performing traditional Irish tunes. Weather (and temperature) permitting, the concert will be on the outdoor stage...so bring your lawn chairs! If it's very cold the music will be in the mill site's Visitor Building (with limited first come - first served seating). This will be a great program of exiting and soul-stirring music! The Hagood Mill does record the "Third Saturday" music for the archives of the Pickens County Museum of Art & History. One and all are also invited to join in the jam(s) at the site. 

 

Come see cotton ginned for the public for the first time in Pickens County since the 1960's on the mill site's newly restored Daniel Pratt cotton gin. This 1890's gin, which last operated in 1937, has been restored over the last two years by Hagood Mill miller, Alan Warner, mill site volunteer, Tom Benko, and the generous assistance of other volunteer friends and family. Cotton was grown (and picked by twenty volunteers) on Chris Eldridge's property in northern Pickens County for this event. If you remember "cotton" or ever worked in the textile industry, make sure to come out and see the dedication of this restored treasure, which was donated to the Hagood Mill Historic Site by Ed and Bill Crawford of Anderson. Ginning will take place throughout the day.

 

Carolyn Peloza and Jeanette Moody of the Upcountry Quilters will have popcorn, berries and all the "fixin's" for children to help make decorations for the mill's Christmas tree.

 

This will also be your last opportunity to purchase raffle tickets for the Upcountry Quilters' Underground Railroad Quilt being sold to raise money for the museum's programs. This queen size quilt, made of 100 percent cotton reproduction 1850-1860 style fabrics, is based on the Underground Railroad quilts that were used as signals to direct fleeing slaves to safe houses or to the north. A history label sewn on the back of the quilt explains what each square represents. The individual quilt squares are the work of several guild members and the hand quilting was done by Una Welborn. Raffle tickets are $1 each, or six for $5, and may be purchased at the mill from members of the Upcountry Quilters Guild. The drawing for this remarkable quilt will be held at 3:00 p.m. at the mill. 

 

Hagood Mill operates just as it has for the last century-and-a-half. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits and wheat flour will be available, as well as Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items that will make great Christmas gifts!

 

The Hagood Mill hosts a variety of folklife and traditional arts demonstrations each month, including blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flintknapping, moonshining, quilting, spinning, weaving, woodcarving, open-hearth cooking, musical instrument building and more! This month, Shayna Hollander will be present making olive oil soap (the old fashioned way...in a big pot) which is scented with essential botanical oils and/or organically grown herbs

 

There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun! So, head on out, grab a plate of Kannarney's Barbeque and enjoy a day at the Mill. 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 open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00, to tour the buildings and grounds and to visit the Mill Site Gift Shop. 

 

"Music in the Mountains 2007" is sponsored by a private benefactor. 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 at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963. 

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