PICKENS — On Saturday, April 18 please join some of mountain music’s best-known musical personalities at Hagood Mill Historic Site and Folklife Center in Pickens, as the site honor the tireless and dedicated service of our wonderful mill site volunteers and demonstrators. Without the “in kind” service of our volunteers there would be no Hagood Mill events for everyone to enjoy. The Historic Site and Folklife Center encourage each and every one of our visitors on April 18 to say thanks to the many volunteers who generously give their time and support throughout the year.

This month’s entertainment will include John Fowler, Carol Rifkin, Jeanette Queen, and the Heartstrings.  Rifkin and Fowler co-host public radio WNCW’s popular mountain music show “This Old Porch,” all are longtime members of the mountain music community, Jeanette Queen from Jackson County’s singing Queen Family, Fowler from the upcountry of South Carolina is an old time musician, song and story collector, and Carol Rifkin’s at home in Buncombe County, where she plays, writes, sings and dances. Together they bring a program full of history, laughter, songs, stories, string band music, participatory dance, conversation and off the cuff humor.

So come on out, and don’t forget to bring a lawn chair or blanket.

There will be lots of other things to see on April 18 as Hagood Mill hosts a variety of folk life and traditional arts demonstrations. There will be blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flint knapping, chair-caning, moonshining, broom-making, basket-making, pottery, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, metal-smithing, bee keeping,  leather-working and more. You can ask questions of the artists and make a purchase of their Traditional Arts to take home.  As always we encourage visitors to bring their favorite old time instruments and join in on the “open jam” which takes place throughout the day under the ancient cedar beside our beloved 1791 log cabin.

The centerpiece of the Hagood Mill historic site is the water-powered 1845 gristmill. It is one of the finest examples of nineteenth century technology in the Upcountry and operates just as it has for the last century-and-a-half.  The mill will be running throughout the day. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits, and wheat flour will be available.  In addition rye flour, Basmati rice flour, oat flour, oatmeal, popping corn meal, and grits, organic yellow corn meal and grits, and buckwheat flour are produced and may be available.  Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items are also available.

There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun. So, head on out, grab a plate of great food on site from the Gatehouse Restaurant and enjoy a special day at the Hagood Mill.

The Hagood Mill historic site is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. all year long. The Mill operates, rain or shine, for a special festival the third Saturday of every month.

 “Music in the Mountains 2015” is sponsored by a private benefactor. For additional information, please contact the Hagood Mill at (864) 898-2936 or check out our website at www.visitpickenscounty.com/calendar.