[Scmusenet] A Banjo Extravaganza with Charles Wood, this Saturday May 17 at Hagood Mill

Mon May 12 11:26:35 EDT 2008

"National Banjo Champion, Charles Wood"

Saturday May 17 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, May 17 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 2008" continues with the Hagood Mill playing host for a free concert on the outdoor stage by national banjo champion, Charles Wood. Mr. Wood has won the banjo competition at Merlefest and the national competition in Winfield, Kansas. He has appeared on the "David Letterman Show" and the "Prairie Home Companion" show on National Public Radio. Charles Wood is absolutely one of the world's greatest banjo players...and he's from right here in the Upstate! He will perform at 1:00. Opening at 12:00 will be the "Classic Stringers," a diverse home-school string orchestra directed by Donna Ringenberger. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and hear some great 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 the mill site's newly restored Daniel Pratt cotton gin, which will run several times throughout the day. This rare 1890's gin has been restored over the last two years by Hagood Mill volunteers.

   Hagood Mill's own SC Folk Heritage Award Recipient in Split Oak Basketry, Gale McKinley, of Neals Creek Community in Anderson, has been awarded the SC Arts Commission's Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant for 2007-2008. The grant consists of a Master Artist, Apprentice, and Project Manager. Gale's apprentice is her sister's son, Gary Fisher, of Easley, and her Project Manager is Norma Hughes-Smith of Belton. Both Gale and Norma are SC Community Scholars. As a climax to his year of study and as a way to gain experience in presenting folklife to the public, Gary will be demonstrating his skills for the visitors to the mill. There will be a display of Gale's baskets in the Visitors Building.

   Another of "Hagood Mill's own," Mr. Johnny Hester, along with author, Jerry Vickery, will be present for a book-signing of their new book, "The Forgotten Society of the Keowee River Valley: a biography of a sharecropper, Johnny V. Hester." Johnny, known at the mill as "the bee man," grew up with his family in the Keowee River Valley, living the hard life of sharecroppers, working someone else's land, their life totally depending on "making a crop" for their landlord. Johnny's family was (in his words) "the bottom rung of the ladder." Hagood Mill strives to interpret pioneer and rural mule-farming days, and this book truly captures the love, joy, pain and sorrow of "hard times" in the South Carolina Upstate. 

   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. 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! 

   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 2008" 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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Visit Charles Wood's web site at:

http://www.charleswoodbanjo.com/ 

Or view his performance with "Men with Banjos Who Know How to Use Them" on the David Letterman Show (featuring Steve Martin, Pete Wernick, Charles Wood (center), Tony Ellis and Earl Scruggs at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrlqQ1_vZVE

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