For those of you who happen to be in the area or passing through...

The Foxfire collection was originally started as an elementary school project to get the kids to learn more about their heritage and to listen to their elders and document what was typically either poorly or not well undocumented lifetime knowledge / experiences.

This started around the early 70's (IIRC) and the timing was pretty good because it blossomed with some help from the "Mother Earth" group and other organizations.

These writings were eventually compiled into a book called Foxfire, which subsequently grew, I belive that they are up to volume #12 or so. As others have mentioned, they are well worth reading and they cover many aspects of life mostly from around the 1800's on, although much was similar in the 1700's.

If you happen to be on US 441 and traveling through North East Georgia, take some time to pass through the town of Clayton, located in Rabun County (Rabun County comprises that little "dog ear" at the top east corner of Georgia, and is about 40 miles south of Franklin North Carolina).

Just north of Clayton, on the west side of 441 in the neighbor hood of Rabun Gap you'll find the Foxfire Museum has a little historical collection of buildings (log cabins, several of which are actually around a century old).

These include a black smith shop, church, several miscl. buildings including a home and stores. It is a great day trip with the kids. When we were there about two years ago, there was a lady there that was handweaving Tartan cloth. It is amazing how much labor goes into something as simple as cloth. The particular batch she was working on was a custom pattern, it was very specific in how many threads between this color and that, and the details were mind boggling.

[Sidenote: The museum was originally several miles north of its present location and recently had to move to the current location. The buildings and everything else were transported.]

Regards,
Comanche7