Museum of Appalachia facts for kids
The Museum of Appalachia is a special place in Norris, Tennessee. It's about 20 miles north of Knoxville. This museum is a "living history" site. It shows what life was like for pioneers and people in the early 1900s. This was in the Southern Appalachian region of the United States.
The museum is now connected with the Smithsonian Institution. It has over 30 old buildings. These buildings were saved from falling apart. They were moved to 63 acres of pretty fields. The museum also has thousands of real old items. It has one of the biggest collections of folk art in the country. You can also enjoy traditional Appalachian music performances. Many local artists show how they make things each year.
John Rice Irwin, an educator and businessman from East Tennessee, started the museum in the 1960s. He wanted to save old buildings and items. But he also wanted to save their stories. He wanted to know who owned them and how they were used. These stories are kept in the museum's archives. They also have thousands of old photos. The museum started with just one log cabin. Now, it has many buildings. These include the Arnwine Cabin, which is a historic landmark. There's also a rare Appalachian cantilever barn. You can even see a cabin where author Mark Twain's parents and older siblings lived. The museum shows items owned by famous Appalachian people. It also has thousands of tools. These tools show all parts of daily life in rural Southern Appalachia. The museum looks like a working pioneer farm. It has gardens with typical crops. Animals like goats, chickens, turkeys, and peacocks walk around freely. John Rice Irwin once said, "What better way is there to know a people than to study the everyday things they made, used, mended, and cherished?"
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How the Museum Started
John Rice Irwin, who founded the museum, was born in 1930. His family had lived in the region for a long time. He grew up on his grandparents' farm. He learned a lot about old tools and farm life from them. John Rice Irwin became a businessman and an educator. He even led the public schools in Anderson County for a while.
In 1962, John Rice Irwin went to an auction at an old farm. He noticed that people were buying items and taking them far away. He felt that the true value of these items was in their history. So, he bought several things. One was a horse-shoeing box. It had been found in the Clinch River after a big flood in 1916. Soon after, he got his first log building. It was the General Bunch House. He moved it from a faraway part of the county. John Rice Irwin spent his weekends looking for old pioneer items in remote communities. He displayed them in his yard and garage. In 1969, he officially opened the Museum of Appalachia. He started charging a small fee to visit.
In 1977, one of the museum's cabins was used in a TV show. It was called Young Dan'l Boone. This cabin is now called the "Dan'l Boone Cabin." But it has no real connection to the famous explorer Daniel Boone. In the mid-1980s, articles about the museum appeared in Parade and Reader's Digest. John Rice Irwin also appeared on the Today Show. These things helped many more people visit the museum.
In the 1980s, the famous author Alex Haley visited the museum. He loved it so much that he moved to East Tennessee. He bought a farm right across from the museum. Alex Haley was inspired by the museum's Steve Parkey exhibit. Steve Parkey was an African-American blacksmith. Haley planned to write a book about him. Alex Haley brought many famous people to the museum. These included Oprah Winfrey, Jane Fonda, Brooke Shields, Lou Gossett Jr., and Quincy Jones.
Many episodes of the TV show The Heartland Series were filmed at the museum. The very last episode of the show was filmed there on August 8, 2009. About 10,000 people came to watch. This was one of the biggest crowds the museum has ever had!
What You Can See at the Museum
Outdoor Buildings and Log Structures
The museum shows many types of buildings you would find on an old Appalachian farm. These include smokehouses, corn cribs, and animal pens. There are also mills, an underground dairy, and a cellar. You can see a loom house too. The museum also has blacksmith shops and a working saw mill. There's a rural schoolhouse, a log church, and shops for making brooms, ropes, and leather. All these buildings are filled with items from that time. Sometimes, people even give demonstrations there.
The Display Barn
The museum's two-story Display Barn holds one of the largest collections of pioneer items in the country. Besides thousands of old tools, the barn has a fully stocked general store. It also has a rural post office from Arthur, Tennessee. Some tools on display are very old. One axe might have been used at colonial Fort Loudoun. You can also see the shoeing box found in the Clinch River after the Big Barren Creek Flood. Thousands of other tools show all parts of farm life in pioneer and early 1900s Appalachia. The collection includes photos and short descriptions. These tell you who owned each item and how it was used.
The People's Building
Fun Events and Festivals
For 38 years, the museum hosted an event called "Tennessee Fall Homecoming." This was one of the biggest and most real music and folk festivals in the country. Many famous musicians performed all day on four outdoor stages. There were also evening shows with main artists. Some of the artists who performed include Bill Monroe, Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart, Old Crow Medicine Show, Lee Ann Womack, Jerry Douglas, The SteelDrivers, Ralph Stanley, John Hartford, Doc Watson, and Rhonda Vincent.
Important Buildings to See
Arnwine Cabin
Quick facts for kids |
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Arnwine Cabin
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| Location | TN 61 |
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| Nearest city | Norris, Tennessee |
| Built | 1800s |
| Added to NRHP | 1976 |
The Arnwine Cabin was built between 1795 and 1820. It was made from strong poplar logs. John Wesley Arnwine was the first known person to live there. The cabin was originally near the Clinch River in Grainger County. In the early 1930s, the Tennessee Valley Authority bought the land for Norris Lake. The cabin was moved a short distance. Two of Arnwine's daughters lived in the cabin their whole lives. After they passed away, the cabin was used for storage and started to fall apart. John Rice Irwin bought the cabin in 1964 and moved it to the museum.
The roof of the cabin was too damaged to save. So, John Rice Irwin and two friends split 5,400 shingles from one red oak tree to build a new roof. The cabin's floor was also missing. Irwin found an old floor from a smokehouse near Sneedville and moved it to the Arnwine Cabin. The stone part of the chimney came from an old house nearby. A stick-and-mud section was added to it. Over several years, the cabin was filled with real furniture, tools, and dishes from the pioneer time.
Mark Twain Family Cabin
The "Mark Twain family cabin" is thought to have belonged to Mark Twain's father, John Marshall Clemens. He lived there with Twain's mother, Jane Lampton Clemens. It might be where Twain's older siblings were born. The Clemens family moved to Missouri a few months before Mark Twain was born. The cabin was originally in a community called Possum Trot in Fentress County, Tennessee. John Clemens worked there as a postmaster and court clerk. The cabin's chimney was added around 1905. The Museum of Appalachia bought and moved the cabin to the museum in 1995.
List of Historic Buildings
| Structure | Image | Built Around | Original Location | Builder or Main Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Cassidy House |  |
Union County, Tennessee | Tom Cassidy | |
| Gwen Sharp Playhouse |  |
1929 | Loyston, Tennessee | Sharp family neighbor |
| Jail Cells |  |
1874 | Madisonville, Tennessee | |
| Leather and Saddle Shop |  |
Near Rogersville, Tennessee | Hobart Hagood (d. 1961) | |
| Mark Twain Family Cabin |  |
1830s | Near Pall Mall, Tennessee | John Clemens (1798–1847) |
| Wilson Barn |  |
Union County, Tennessee | ||
| Blacksmith and Wheelwright Shop | Near Andersonville, Tennessee | |||
| Bunch Smokehouse |  |
c. 1830 | Grainger County, Tennessee | |
| General Bunch House |  |
1898 | Anderson County, Tennessee | Pryor Bunch (1852–1931) |
| Arnwine Cabin | |
c. 1795-1820 | Grainger County, Tennessee | John Wesley Arnwine |
| Old Sharp Corn Mill | Union County, Tennessee | Sharp family | ||
| McClung Cabin |  |
1790s | Knoxville, Tennessee | McClung family |
| Broom and Rope Shop |  |
Clinchport, Virginia | Mary Carter | |
| Cox Corn Crib |  |
Near Norris, Tennessee | Bunk Cox | |
| Longworth Corncrib | Claiborne County, Tennessee | Longworth family | ||
| Dan'l Boone Cabin |  |
Early 19th century | Anderson County, Tennessee | Patterson family |
| Sheep Pen | Near Clinton, Tennessee | Wilshire family | ||
| Big Tater Valley School |  |
Early 19th century | Grainger County, Tennessee | Crockett Skeen |
| Irwin's Chapel Church |  |
c. 1840 | Madison County, North Carolina | Thomas Tweed |
| Peters Homestead House |  |
c. 1790-1838 | Near Luttrell, Tennessee | John Peters, Nathaniel Peters |
| Homestead Loom House |  |
Near Maynardville, Tennessee | Bishop Hatmaker | |
| Homestead Smokehouse and Granary |  |
Powell Valley, Tennessee | Childress family | |
| Parkey Blacksmith Shop |  |
Hancock County, Tennessee | Steve Parkey | |
| Joe Diehl Sawmill |  |
Early 20th century | Knox County, Tennessee | |
| Cantilever Barn |  |
Seymour, Tennessee | Unknown | |
| Hacker Martin Gristmill |  |
1790s | Near Gray, Tennessee | Coonrod Dove |
See Also
- Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center
- List of music museums
- Open-air museum
