Toolbar
 |
Printer Friendly |  |
 |
|
 |
RSS Feed | |
|
Bookmark |
Home 
Weird Wanderings USA South
CLINTON, TENNESSEE, USA – The Museum of Appalachia is so chock full of fascinating exhibits, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. After all, the Smithsonian affiliate museum covers 65 acres and includes more than 35 authentic log cabins and buildings and over a quarter of a million artifacts depicting all (and I do mean ALL ) aspects of early American Appalachian life.
A quarter of a million is a whole lot of artifacts. Many of the strange objects defy description and were it not for the folksy hand written stories that accompany nearly every one of them, it would be difficult to deduce their actual purposes. But of all the artifacts and exhibits that flooded through my brain on a visit to the massive museum, the one that struck me the most was the Angel or Death Crowns, part of an exhibit of early Appalachian funeral practices (which also includes a real horse drawn hearse and tools of the mortician’s trade).
The Museum of Appalachia displays a handful of examples of the small (2 to 3 inches in diameter) round feather “crowns” (pictured at the top of this page).
What is so mysterious about feathers cleverly woven into a small bird’s nest-like shaped "crown"?
It is said that the crowns simply appear in the pillows of a person who is about to die. Nobody made them, nobody put them there. They just appeared among the pillow’s stuffing. A rear occurence, even in these parts, legend has it that if an Angel Crown appears in a dead person’s pillow, it means the person went to heaven.
I can't help but wonder with the proliferation of synthetically filled pillows today, have the angels kept up with the times?
The Angel Crowns are at once fascinating, beautiful, historical, and more than a little bit creepy.
To lighten the mood, one only has to wander outside, where there is always live mountain music playing and costumed docents demonstrate traditional Appalachian arts and crafts like quilting, blacksmithing, and barrel making.
Music lovers will want to schedule a visit to the Museum of Appalachia during the Tennessee Fall Homecoming, an annual festival showcasing some 400 musicians playing authentic Southern Appalachian bluegrass, gospel, folk, and old time country music continuously on 5 stages for 4 days! Old time crafters, costumed characters demonstrating life as it used to be, and tasty Southern vittles round out the festivities.
A perusal of the photos on the wall of the museum’s dining room at any time of year reveals the stature of this annual musical pilgrimage for many of music’s most talented and well known stars. The festival’s 30 year anniversary takes place in October of 2009.
The Man Behind the Museum
The Museum of Appalachia offers so much to see and do, it’s hard to believe that one man is responsible for creating it. John Rice Irwin, whose family was twice uprooted by the federal government first for the building of Norris dam and second for the construction of Oak Ridge and the Manhattan project, a dapper man now in his 80s, can still be frequently seen walking the grounds and working at his beloved museum.
Irwin himself has written or dictated the histories of all the objects in the museum’s collections. He knows, often from personal experience, about every item in the place. He knew most of the people in the photos that cram nearly every inch of wall space. This is his land and these were and are his people.
The museum itself grew out of John Rice Irwin’s personal collection gone wild. He began with an interest in primitive Appalachian tools. That morphed into an interest in the buildings those tools made. And of course, John was a music lover, so he had to add instruments and memorobilia from Appalachaina music artists.
When his collection overflowed his residence, and a garage, he first thought about turning it into a museum. Good thing as he soon began to collect historic buildings as well.
A conversation with Irwin is as varied and fascinating as his collection. His stories all have tangents that go off on delightful tangents of their own. Told in his humorous elegant Southern gentleman style, you could listen for days.
Even though Irwin’s daughter Elaine has taken over the reins as executive director of the museum, his compulsive collecting hasn’t slowed down and the Museum of Appalachia continues to add to their ever expanding collection today.
Allow plenty of time to explore, soak up and ambiance, and enjoy the entertainment.
Quote at the Entrance to the Museum:
"Welcome to the Museum of Appalachia. These are our people. World renowned, unknown, famous, infamous, interesting, diverse, different, but above all, they are a warm, colorful and jolly lot, in love with our land, our mountains, and our culture. May their memories ever be preserved -- Not so much in reverence to them, but as a gift to us and to generations yet to come. To appreciate where we are today, or where we are going tomorrow, we must understand where, as a culture, we've been in the past. The folks you will meet here will help provide this understanding."
John Rice Irwin
The Museum of Appalachia is located at 2819 Andersonville Hwy. in Clinton, TN 37716. Call 865-494-7680 or click to www.museumofappalachia.org.
For more information about visiting Oak Ridge area in general, visit the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.OakRidgeVisitor.com.
For more information on visiting Anderson County, Tennessee, visit their tourism council's website at www.YallCome.org.
Weird Wanderings USA South
|
||||||||
|
||||||||
A quarter of a million is a whole lot of artifacts. Many of the strange objects defy description and were it not for the folksy hand written stories that accompany nearly every one of them, it would be difficult to deduce their actual purposes. But of all the artifacts and exhibits that flooded through my brain on a visit to the massive museum, the one that struck me the most was the Angel or Death Crowns, part of an exhibit of early Appalachian funeral practices (which also includes a real horse drawn hearse and tools of the mortician’s trade).
The Museum of Appalachia displays a handful of examples of the small (2 to 3 inches in diameter) round feather “crowns” (pictured at the top of this page).
What is so mysterious about feathers cleverly woven into a small bird’s nest-like shaped "crown"?
It is said that the crowns simply appear in the pillows of a person who is about to die. Nobody made them, nobody put them there. They just appeared among the pillow’s stuffing. A rear occurence, even in these parts, legend has it that if an Angel Crown appears in a dead person’s pillow, it means the person went to heaven.
I can't help but wonder with the proliferation of synthetically filled pillows today, have the angels kept up with the times?
The Angel Crowns are at once fascinating, beautiful, historical, and more than a little bit creepy.
To lighten the mood, one only has to wander outside, where there is always live mountain music playing and costumed docents demonstrate traditional Appalachian arts and crafts like quilting, blacksmithing, and barrel making.
Music lovers will want to schedule a visit to the Museum of Appalachia during the Tennessee Fall Homecoming, an annual festival showcasing some 400 musicians playing authentic Southern Appalachian bluegrass, gospel, folk, and old time country music continuously on 5 stages for 4 days! Old time crafters, costumed characters demonstrating life as it used to be, and tasty Southern vittles round out the festivities.
A perusal of the photos on the wall of the museum’s dining room at any time of year reveals the stature of this annual musical pilgrimage for many of music’s most talented and well known stars. The festival’s 30 year anniversary takes place in October of 2009.
The Man Behind the Museum
The Museum of Appalachia offers so much to see and do, it’s hard to believe that one man is responsible for creating it. John Rice Irwin, whose family was twice uprooted by the federal government first for the building of Norris dam and second for the construction of Oak Ridge and the Manhattan project, a dapper man now in his 80s, can still be frequently seen walking the grounds and working at his beloved museum.
Irwin himself has written or dictated the histories of all the objects in the museum’s collections. He knows, often from personal experience, about every item in the place. He knew most of the people in the photos that cram nearly every inch of wall space. This is his land and these were and are his people.
The museum itself grew out of John Rice Irwin’s personal collection gone wild. He began with an interest in primitive Appalachian tools. That morphed into an interest in the buildings those tools made. And of course, John was a music lover, so he had to add instruments and memorobilia from Appalachaina music artists.
When his collection overflowed his residence, and a garage, he first thought about turning it into a museum. Good thing as he soon began to collect historic buildings as well.
A conversation with Irwin is as varied and fascinating as his collection. His stories all have tangents that go off on delightful tangents of their own. Told in his humorous elegant Southern gentleman style, you could listen for days.
Even though Irwin’s daughter Elaine has taken over the reins as executive director of the museum, his compulsive collecting hasn’t slowed down and the Museum of Appalachia continues to add to their ever expanding collection today.
Allow plenty of time to explore, soak up and ambiance, and enjoy the entertainment.
Quote at the Entrance to the Museum:
"Welcome to the Museum of Appalachia. These are our people. World renowned, unknown, famous, infamous, interesting, diverse, different, but above all, they are a warm, colorful and jolly lot, in love with our land, our mountains, and our culture. May their memories ever be preserved -- Not so much in reverence to them, but as a gift to us and to generations yet to come. To appreciate where we are today, or where we are going tomorrow, we must understand where, as a culture, we've been in the past. The folks you will meet here will help provide this understanding."
John Rice Irwin
Practicalities
The Museum of Appalachia is located at 2819 Andersonville Hwy. in Clinton, TN 37716. Call 865-494-7680 or click to www.museumofappalachia.org.
For more information about visiting Oak Ridge area in general, visit the Oak Ridge Convention and Visitors Bureau website at www.OakRidgeVisitor.com.
For more information on visiting Anderson County, Tennessee, visit their tourism council's website at www.YallCome.org.
|
Comments
There are no comments for this item
Be the first to leave a comment
You must be a registered member to leave a comment. So why not sign up now?
- Recently Added
-
- Dec 29, 2009
- Dec 1, 2009
- Dec 1, 2009
- Dec 1, 2009
Submit a recipe for publication on FabulousFoods.com
|
