Foxfire News 2014
Foxfire News 2014
Foxfire News
Dr. Laura West was raised in Peak, SC, a rural town with a
population of 60. She graduated from Clemson and subsequently Wake
Forest School of Medicine with honors. As a primary care physician,
she has practiced in private practice and a Christian-based charitable
clinic in Atlanta. After being a part-time resident for 25 years, Dr. West
recently relocated to the Rabun County area and works at Clayton
Medical Clinic. She finds personal satisfaction from caring for her
neighbors in a community culturally closer to her roots than Atlanta.
Dr. West has long appreciated those who lived a self-sufficient full life
without modern day benefits.
Prior to his appointment with the University of Georgias Archway
Partnership, Rick Story served as the Director of Georgia Operations
for FrogueClark and managed the firms Atlanta office. Serving as a
member of Governor Nathan Deals senior staff in Washington and
Atlanta for well over a decade, Mr. Story served as the Director of
Executive Appointments. Mr. Story attended the University of Georgia
before receiving a Liberal Arts degree from Young Harris College and a
B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of West Georgia. He currently
resides in Rabun County.
George Wood is currently Superintendent of Schools at Federal
Hocking Local Schools, Stewart, OH. Prior to that, he served 18 years as
principal of Federal Hocking High Schoolnamed a Mentor School by
the Gates Foundation, a First Amendment School by ASCD, an Ohios
Best School by the Ohio Department of Education, and one of Americas
Best Schools by Readers Digest. He came to Federal Hocking from a
professorship at Ohio University, where he studied the work of Foxfire,
that inquiry appearing in his book, Schools that Work. He is the chair
of the Coalition of Essential Schools and also serves on the Board of the
Paideia Foundation. His wife, Marcia, retired in 2014 from over three
decades of teaching kindergarten.
Jack Parish serves as the Associate Dean for Outreach and Engagement
The Foxfire Fund, Inc., Board of Directors Hunter Moorman, Chair John Erbele, Vice Chair Burgess Buz Stone, Secretary
James K. Hasson, Jr., Chair Emeritus Dr. Janet Rechtman, Chair Emeritus Jan Volk, Chair Emeritus Ruta Abolins Kaye Collins Dr. Edward Diden
Carl Glickman Leslie Graitcer Wilma Hutcheson-Williams Karon Miller Jack Parish Rick Story Dr. Laura West George Wood
Foxfire Community Board Karon Miller, President Jim Enloe, Vice-President Dr. Scott Beck Perry Bourlet Dickie Chastain Emma Chastain
Marie H. Chastain Kaye Collins Donna Dills Samantha Dixon Becky Flory Danny Flory Holly Henry-Perry Ramey Henslee
Amelia Herb Richard Hopkins Lisa McCall Joy Phillips Keifer Phillips Nicole Queen Samantha F. Ramey Bruce Russell Vicki York
Foxfire Staff Ann Moore, President Barry Stiles, Museum Curator Paulette Carpenter, Gift Shop Manager Jessica Sheriff, Administrative Assistant
Foxfire News is published once a year by The Foxfire Fund, Inc., a 501 (c) (3) non-profit education and heritage organization. Address inquiries to:
Lee Carpenter, Foxfire News, P.O. Box 541, Mountain City, GA 30562; Phone: 706-746-5828; FAX: 706-746-5829; [email protected]; www.foxfire.org
Articles and photos in Foxfire News may be reprinted for use in Foxfire educational partnership publications.
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Special Thanks to everyone who supported our day-to-day operations through a greatest needs (or undesignated) contribution to last years Annual Appeal fund drive: Allison Adams, Lew Allen, Barbara J. Babinchak, Frank
Bachelder, Alan & Mary Barnes, John Barton, Dr. Jack Beaver, Michael & Mary Ann Best, Christina Bird-Holenda, Cheryl Blanton, Rev. Jimmy Bowden Sr., Ms. Judie Bradley, Kathy & Charlie Breithaupt, Ronnie Brooks,
Wallace & Olivia Bruce, Karen Burke, Catharine Burkett, Alan Burton, Paulette Carpenter, Thurman & Kathy Carpenter, Paula Choate, Pat Clay, Sherry Cohen, Kaye Collins, Eula Connell, Conrads Family Foundation,
Ann Cooley, Drucilla Copeland, Nina G. Cornett, Jeanetta Cotman, Carol Cox, Joan Rivers Cox, John Y. Dean, Norman DesRosiers, Edd Diden, Mary Dillard, Jane A. Dolan, Betty Elkins, Gary Emery, John Erbele, Harry
Faircloth, Lamar & Sally Fleming, Mary Ann Frank, Randall Freysz, Bill & Patty Friend, Dale E. Fry, Ronald Geer, Carl Glickman, Ruth Gonlag, Yetta Goodman, Leslie Graitcer, Aldin & Shirley Griffin, F. Max Grist, Sharon
Grist, Thomas Hair, O. Emerson Ham Jr. MD, John C. Hanson, Gary Haskins, James K. Hasson Jr., Edward Helms, Joseph Hickerson, Shannon Hobgood, Billy & Debra Hodge, Mrs. Fred Huff, Arthur Hunsicker, Wanda Sue
Hunt, Wilma Hutcheson-Williams, Russell Jacobs Jr., Dave & Killeen Jensen, Sara Beth Johnson, Sandra Joiner, Fran Jones, Rev. Benjamin Jordan, Mae Keaton, Robert Kerska, Betty King, Rita Kirshstein, John Kravet, Harold
Lacey Jr., Edward LaPlant, Larry Layden, Mrs. Roger Legg, Charles A. Lewis Jr., Dr. Robin & Mrs. Mary Line, Carol Jean Linn, Lloyd Lucas, Pamela Madaus, John Malone, Kay Manfrede, Virginia Martin, Ted Maznicki,
McClure Family Foundation, Alan McDaniel, Richard W. McDowell, James N. McKee, Gae Noe McLendon Foundation Fund, Mary Mcl McManus, Mr. & Mrs. Richard Metzgar, Karon Miller, Michelle Miller, Morgan
Miller, Jay Mitchell, Mrs. James Moon, Ann Moore, Hunter Moorman, Quinn Murk, Richard Norman, Delma Odum, Dawn Owens, Linda Garland Page, Elizabeth Parker, Lorraine Parks, Laine S. Parrott, Barbara Passmore,
Charles Pater, Elizabeth Pepper, Greg & Susanna Peters, Frank Phillips, Jean Pierson, Margaret Post, Joyce Ann Priest, RJS Construction Group, Marsha Rauscher, Janet Rechtman & Doug Aiken, Barbara Reed, Jerry Reed,
Kay Rich, Lou Ann Robinson, David Rothmeier, John R. Russell, Scott Sanders, Oscar Scoville, Bill Setzer, Howard Sheffer, Claudia R. Shorr, Wayne O. Sims, Rodney Skoglund, Dawne Smith, William Stack, Buz and Mary
Cobb Stone, Marlin Strand, Roslyn Strickland, Richard Topper, Mark Turpen, Rodney Tyus, Ann Veal, Wanda Veal, Jan Volk, Isabelle Watkins, Gail M. Watson, Tom & Laura West, Duffie Westheimer, Frank M. White, B.F.
& Beverly Wilson, Laurence & Elizabeth Wilson, Dr. Stephen Wise, J. W. & Ethel Woodruff Foundation, Barbara Woodson, Chuck & Marilyn Wright, John D. Young, Theresa Zilly. In Honor of Buz Stone: Kirk Knous. In
Honor of Buz & Mary Cobb Stone: Carol & Steve Raeber. In Memory of Claud Connell: J. Lee & Betty Waller. In Memory of Butch Darnell: Janice Parker/Valley Drapery. In Memory of Andrew Prince: Oscar
Brock Jr., Judy-Clem-Jenna-Clara Caprara, Yvonne Ferrelli, Amanda G. Fountain, Debbie & Mickey Justice, Marcia Levine, Jane W. McIlvaine, Susan McLaughlin, Dr. Michael & Kristen Mendoza, Pamela P. Prince, Tom
& P.J. Rossi. If you made a donation marked Greatest Needs during the last Annual Appeal and your name is not listed here, please contact us and let us know so that we can correct our records.
For the 20142015 academic year, the newest recipients of Julia Fleet/Foxfire Scholarships: visiting the Foxfire Museums woodworking shop,
(L-R) Ethan Phillips (holding a mallet), Jesse Owens (with a broad axe), Taylor Shirley (an auger), and John Lyle Moore (a crosscut saw).
Action-Packed Year
The Foxfire Museum & Heritage Center has played host to a wide
variety of events and groups this year. In addition to providing a
window into Southern Appalachias past for thousands of casual
visitors and dozens of tour groups, 2014 has seen the Museum
facilities provide a site for both private and public workshops,
week-long, camp-style teacher training courses, two major public
events, and a couple of in-house work projects.
Kicking off the season on Saturday, April 5, Foxfires Living
History Day (photos in column at left) again brought the Museum to
life with volunteers in period clothing, demonstrating the everyday skills and crafts of 1800s Appalachia for visitors, and inviting
(Top) Living History Day visitors fill the Savannah House yard, watching (and
helping) former student Christy Dills do laundry, 1800s-style. (Above) Blacksmith
Wind Chapman (tophat) and former Foxfire student David Campbell fire the
forge and ring the anvils in the blacksmith shop. (Below) Former student Jennifer
Mitcham assists the little ones in churning butter.
This smiling, laughing group of students and teachers spent most of the summer
working out of the Museums archive building. Curious what (Top to Bottom)
Ethan Phillips, Jon Blackstock, Ross Lunsford, Jesse Owens, Katie Lunsford, Kaye
Collins, and Jessica Phillips were up to this summer? Heres a hint: Foxfire has a
relatively major anniversary coming up in 2016, just two short years from now.
r at Foxfire Museum
them to try their own hands at things like making rope with a
simple machine and doing laundry without a machinejust
wooden tubs and a wood paddle.
The remaining spring months saw numerous school group tours,
including the annual visit from Rabun Countys own fourth grade
classes, taking three days to accommodate the grades 200+ students,
each of whom return to school with a Museum activity booklet and
other goodies. The Museums conference and dorm facilities were
occupied for much of June with groups of older students during
week-long, immersive summer courses in the Foxfire Approach
to Instruction. Offered through Foxfires partnership with nearby
Piedmont College, the courses give insight into the educational
ideas and choices that allowed early Foxfire Magazine students to
make decisions and grow their learning process beyond their rural
mountain classroom and ultimately around the world.
June also saw the introduction of two new Museum programs.
Foxfire curator Barry Stiles set aside time each Wednesday afternoon
in June, July, and August to lead open guided tours of the Museum.
Wednesday Wanders allowed casual visitors to experience a guided
tour of the Museum without the normal scheduling or group size
requirements. Then, each Friday afternoon of those same summer
months, the Museum invited a different traditional crafter or folk
artist to demonstrate and/or display their wares on the grounds.
Friday Folkgave Museum visitors a chance to meet and chat with
a variety of the regions practicing traditional artists and craftsfolk.
Early July saw the first of this years three Childrens Heritage
Day workshops (photos below), offering ages 818 a day of handson experience with woodworking, blacksmithing, candle-making,
folk art painting, and other traditional skills.
The Museums folk art extravaganza, Folk on The Mountain
(photos in column at right) moved to July 26 this year, which afforded
much better weather than last years rainy mess for the folk artists
filling the Bungalow field and the gift shop yard.
Work has progressed steadily since last December, with a couple hundred reelto-reel tapes remaining to be digitized and nearly all cassette tapes completed.
from reel-to-reel tapes by Tuckers early work and Hollys solo work
since the beginning of March. Reel-to-reel tapes typically contain 60
minutes per side, and the reel-to-reel tapes tend to be filled completely.
The one logistical issue at present is that while nearly all available
cassettes have now been digitized, there are an estimated 250 reelto-reel tapes still waiting. Unfortunately, the reel deck Tucker was
using failed completely just after he left, leaving Hollys reel deck as
the only one currently operational. An additional reel deck has been
ordered, and either Lisa or Earline will move over to that format and
help balance the remaining workload once it arrives.
All total, as of the 36th week, just shy of 4,100 digital audio
recordings have been produced, estimated to contain over 2,300
hours of interviews. Each recording is stored in two formatsthe
recording softwares native format and the near-universal .wav
formatall of which total up to roughly 4.25 terabytes of data. The
projects early estimate has been revised, with the archive currently
expected to yield a little over 3,000 total hours of interviewsa
target that is expected to be easily attainable with the project funds.
Each of the crew has something that they have truly appreciated
from their time listening to decades of Foxfire contacts. Holly enjoyed
listening to interviews of Harriet Echols and Marie Mellinger, and
especially noted that some of the interviews of Aunt Arie Carpenter
were recorded in stereo, directly onto reel-to-reel, and that formats
superior audio quality made it sound like Aunt Arie was in the
same room and speaking directly to her. Earline personally knew
many of the contacts whose recordings she digitized, and noted that
while she enjoyed learning new information and occasionally new
phrases or words along the way, hearing some of the contacts again
makes you miss the folks. Mary Carpenter, Lawton Brooks, and
Janie P. Taylor were among her favorite contacts to listen to. Lisa also
enjoyed Lawton Brooks, as well as Earlines father Buck Carver and
more recent material from former Foxfire Museum curator Robert
Murray. Lisa also commented on the large number of things shes
learned from the interviews, and how enjoyable it has been, with
the typically-quiet work routinely punctuated with chuckles, snorts,
and outright rolling laughter. Holly summed it up by saying, There
is an unimaginable treasure trove here in these tapes.
Earline Carver Benefield adds her latest digitized audio cassette to the
projects log book, a reference used to track all of the completed tapes.
Box after box of audio cassettes has been digitized over the last 9 months, with
many more tapes than expected found in storage at the Georgia State Archive.
Mountaineer
Festival