Cades Cove, Townsend TN, the 2012 Winter Heritage Festival & Craft Beer!

The 6th Annual Townsend TN Winter Heritage Festival kept folks busy for four days.  The festival is a celebration of  human history and cultural traditions of the Tuckaleechee Cove area including Cades Cove, Townsend and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The kickoff was Thursday night at the Thompson-Brown House Museum with storytelling, refreshments and access to a new exhibit on the Civil War as Blount County celebrates the Civil War Sesquicentennial.  Friday, Saturday, and Sunday had events going on all day long at Cades Cove, the Townsend Visitor Center, the Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, Great Smoky Mountains Institute at Tremont, and the Little River Railroad and Lumber Company Museum.

A comprehensive list of events was posted in the Daily Times and online at www.smokymountains.org.  The emphasis was the history of the area, and mountain music was predominant.   Mom and I attended Friday afternoon's, "Music of the Mountains" by Great Smoky Mountains National Park Park Ranger Lisa Free.  It was a combination of lecture on the oral traditions of passing music down or along, playing various instruments and some singing and foot tapping!  Instruments were made out of just about anything and there was a definite bias about which sex could play what instrument.  For instance, a 150 years ago you normally would not see a

woman playing the fiddle or banjo as Ranger Free and Visitor Center's Manager of Partnership Events, Jeanie Hilten, are doing in this photograph. They would have been considered "loose"!  I knew Townsend was a hot bed of emancipated women!

In addition to all of the events listed above, Steve Fillmore of Miss Lily's Cafe and the Lily Barn decided to test the waters to see if there would be interest in holding an annual craft beer festival in Townsend.  National beer sales are in decline overall, but craft beer sales are on the upswing as interest grows.  The event was held on Saturday at Laurel Valley Restaurant and Golf Course and was a sold out.  Attendee's were effusive in their praise!   Blessings, mizkathleen@ Gracehill Bed and Breakfast