NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE FESTIVAL

 

The Native American Heritage Festival was held at the Cherokee Homestead Exhibit in Hayesville, NC on October 19.  The festival featured artists demonstrating basket weaving with river cane, wood carving, beading, pottery, and stickball demonstrations.  Julie Reed and family served Cherokee food including frybread with a variety of toppings. 

 

A Cherokee corncrib is featured at the Cherokee Homestead Exhibit.

 

Students from Hayesville Elementary School take a tour of the Cherokee winter house.

 

 

A Cherokee summer house is included at the Cherokee Homestead Exhibit.

 

 

Ms. Sandy Nicolette explains the Cherokee game of stickball.

 

 

You'll find Cherokee masks at the Cherokee Homestead Exhibit.

 

 

You may purchase wooden masks, beads, and baskets at this booth.

 

 

This Cherokee lady makes beautiful beads.

 

 

Amanda Swimmer (on the right) is 91 and does pottery.  She's shaping a turtle in this photo.  Her granddaughter helps her with the artwork.

 

 

Tony Walkingstick (Mr. Carl Moses' adopted son), makes Cherokee jewelry, brooms, and tommy hawks. 

 

 

Diamond Brown is an entertaining Cherokee storyteller and educator who founded "Touch the Earth with Native People" which has been presented throughout the United States.

 

Dan Hollifield, a Clay County resident, played his own hand-made flute at the Native American Heritage Festival.  He's a member of the Cherokee Nation and belongs to the bird clan.

 

An art show was also held in the Clay County Old Jail Museum during the Native American Heritage Festival.  The work of regional artists included jewelry, baskets, paintings, wooden art, gourd art and fabric art.

 

This event was sponsored by the Clay County Communities and Revitalization Association and the Clay County Historical and Arts Council.

 

You may visit the Cherokee Homestead in Hayesville, NC. 

For information, call:  828-389-3045.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

VETERAN'S DAY EXHIBIT

 Uncle George Lee served in WWII.  He received a Purple Heart for serving his country.  Fellow veterans named the George Lee American Legion in honor of him.

The Hayesville, NC Centennial Display has featured an exhibit on veterans.  I thank Ms. Sandy Zimmerman, chairperson of the Centennial Committee, for allowing me to photograph this display.  This historical exhibit is open on Friday and Saturday, 9:00AM-4:00PM on the Hayesville Townsquare.

MAGIC SEASON

MAGIC SEASON



Autumn sprinkling gold dust,

magic slips into the mountains.

A wedge of honking geese

cuts through cobalt skies.



Golden rod nod their heads,

breath of fall on my cheek.

The air smells like apples,

autumn sprinkling gold dust.



Star-studded asters hug

the banks of Hyatt Mill Creek.

A doe and twin fawns appear,

magic slips into the mountains.



Corn shocks rattle their fingers,

a pumpkin pie baking.

Maple burns like Moses’ bush,

a wedge of honking geese.



Light spins a kaleidoscope

through the patchwork of trees.

Thousands of monarch butterflies

cutting through cobalt skies.

--Brenda Kay Ledford

TRACTOR PARADE

A tractor parade was held in the mountain town of Hayesville, NC on Saturday, September 28.  More than 50 tractors putt-putt-putted around the square on this splendid fall day.  The Clay County Tractor Club sponsored this fun-filled event that honored farmers and agriculture.

This is Ronnie Smith, a farmer who lives on Downings Creek.  He formed the Clay County Tractor Club in memory of his son, Dwight, who was run over by a tractor and killed many years ago in Clay County, NC.

This huge machine is a combine that farmers use to cut corn.  Hub Cheeks owns this John Deere.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Wendell and Eula Mae Moore brought their produce to the Farmer's Market in Hayesville, NC last Saturday.  They loaded their pickup with a fall harvest.  The old-fashioned butternut squash grabbed my attention.

Wendell said they had never raised butternut squash until their son, Phillip, suggested they plant it.  The crop thrieved on their farm in Tusquittee.  They made a wise decision.  Wendell said they sold 50 butternut squash on th townsquare.  I bought some before they sold out.

I recall when I was a child, my mama made butternut squash pies from scratch.  Back then she baked on a woodstove in a hot kitchen.  I can still taste that delicious dessert.  Here's Mama's favorite squash pie recipe:

SQUASH PIE

1 cup squash, cooked and mashed
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 T. self-rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 9-inch unbaked pie shell

Mix squash, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour and sugar.  Add eggs and milk; mix thoroughly.
Pour into pie shell.

Bake at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes or until done. 
Yield:  6 servings

I didn't realize how much time it would take to make a squash pie from scratch.  Fortunately, Mama supervised each step of the baking.  Now I know how hard the old-time mountain women worked to prepare food for their families.

If you should decide to use this recipe, you might need to bake the pie longer than the time indicated in the recipe.  I had a hard time getting the pie done.  Sometimes I think maybe it's the weather that makes the difference or the temp. of your oven.  You will need to judge for yourself when the pie looks firm and done.

The pie tasted good with vanilla ice cream.  You could also put Cool Whip on each slice of pie.  Some folks just like the pie plain.  Anyway you like to serve it, I sure hope you will enjoy this fall recipe. 

  

WHITE SQUIRREL

The whimsical creature scampers
like a white cloud
at the breath of dawn
through the inner city trees.

Like a white cloud,
he brushes the dew
through the inner city trees
flickering in the light and shade.

He brushes the dew,
foxgrapes crisscross a rock wall
flickering in the light and shade,
only the shriek of a blue jay.

The ghost of autumn appearing
at the breath of dawn
amazes the sightseer--
a whimsical creature scampers.
                       --Brenda Kay Ledford

Brevard, North Carolina is a sanctuary for the white squirrels and they are protected by city ordiance.  Two squirrels escaped from a circus years ago and these whimsical creatures occupy the inner city trees today.

MAJESTIC MULBERRY TREE

Ranger Jason Guidry and Don Schneider pictured with the largest red mulberry tree in North Carolina.  Schneider owns the tree and received a certificate from North Carolina Big Tree Program in 2012 for his outstanding tree.  (Photo, courtesy of CLAY COUNTY PROGRESS).


A special tree,
you tower above the forest,
catching sunlight with
heart-shaped leaves.

More than an ornament,
you amaze our state
with your unusual size
and grace a century.

You lift a 69-foot crown,
toss your hair in the clouds,
offering milky white sap,
and cradle baby birds.

You hold a piece of history
in your wrinkled hands:
windstorms, fires, floods.
Your feet cleave to Clay County.
                   --Brenda Kay Ledford

Don Schneider lives off Tusquittee Road in Hayesville, NC in a historic home built by Captain Moore during the Civil War.  His majestic mulberry tree is located behind his home.