Twelfth Annual Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival Set for October 19

As part of the Museum’s “Music in the Mountains” series, the celebration of tradition will continue on this day at the “Twelfth Annual Hagood Mill Storytelling Festival.” The hills around the old mill will echo with the whispers, howls ‘n hollers of some of the Southeast’s best storytellers sharing bits about all sorts of folks, funnies, cultures and places.

Returning to again host what has become one of Hagood Mill’s favorite annual events is storyteller, musician, radio personality and 2013 State Heritage Award recipient, John T. Fowler. From the rolling hills of upstate South Carolina with family ties to the western North Carolina mountains, John Fowler’s storytelling is a blast of old-time energy of yesteryear introducing traditional yarns and folktales from the Carolina region. Those Appalachian family ties run deep in John, which in turn creates his friendly and energetic personality. He also is an old-time mountain banjo and harmonica master, and plays several other traditional instruments, occasionally blending them into his programs. John’s stories and old-time songs, geared for audiences young and old, are stepping stones of history and southern culture. John is also a researcher, collector, preservationist and writer as well as the host of an old time radio show on NC public radio station WNCW 88.7 FM. For more on John, please visit www.hairytoeproductions.com  

This year’s festival features three of the finest storytellers to be found, joining us to grace the stages, porches and shade trees at the mill. Joining John Fowler will be: From near Washington, DC with family ties to North Carolina, Ellouise Schoettler is a 20-year professional storytelling veteran. An “old-time southern teller”, like the family storytellers she grew up listening to on her grandmother’s front porch in Charlotte, Ellouise blends personal experience, family lore and memories into heart-warming original stories that can also tickle your funny-bone. Ellouise also produces & hosts two cable storytelling shows in the Washington DC Metro area. You can see many of her videos on You Tune (YouTube.com/ellouisestory) and she produces a Washington, DC area storytelling series. In 2013 she was awarded a National Storytelling Network ORACLE Award for Leadership and Service to the art of Storytelling.

Originally from New England, humorist and storyteller Martha Reed Johnson is always a welcome breath of fresh air. According to her parents, Martha has been telling tales from the time she could talk. She shares with heart and humor stories of growing up in a family of crazy adventurers. Martha has firsthand experience of life in a tall tale. From MA to CA, FL to Nova Scotia, across three continents, on horseback, foot, a flying bus, and a bike, Martha's travels will leave you laughing, weeping and wanting more. Martha is a master at finding, creating and telling amazing stories from the ordinary and not so ordinary moments of life.

A local story spinner and musician from Oconee county, Derrick Phillips, is a must see man of humor and wit! A folksinger, songwriter, and storyteller accompanying himself on guitar, banjo, piano, and dulcimer, Derrick has performed at festivals, schools, libraries, coffeehouses, and community concerts as well as conducting many school residencies in the Carolinas. During his years of substitute teaching in the Anderson County Schools, he would often tell ghost stories at the end of class as a reward for good behavior, earning him the title of "Mr. Scary." Once he was almost arrested for busking on Main St. in Greenville, SC. He is now the music instructor at Clemson Montessori School. His latest CD is called “Knife Winds of the City”, a concept album about the pros and cons of being a ‘starving artist.’

Throw in a spattering of old time musicians along with the usual wonders presented every month by the Hagood Mill’s exceptional collection of volunteer artisans and living historians and you have a day that everyone in your family will enjoy.

Join in the fun from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. for this FREE day of tall tales, whoppers, folklore and good ol’ stories along with the monthly dose of milling, music and memories. The water-powered 1845 gristmill, one of the finest examples of nineteenth century technology in the Upstate, operates just as it has for the last century-and-a-half and will be running throughout the day. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits and wheat flour will be available, as well as Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items. The Hagood Mill, as usual, will host a variety of folklife and traditional arts demonstrations each month, including blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flintknapping, chair-caning, moonshining, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, open-hearth cooking, metal-smithing, pioneer toys and games and more! There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun! So, head on out, grab a plate of southern vittles or snacks prepared by our food vendors from GateHouse Restaurant and enjoy a day at the Mill. Show your support for the Mill and the Pickens County Museum by joining them at this monthly Third Saturday event. The Hagood Mill operates, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month and is located just 3 miles north of Pickens or 5 ½ miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic Hwy 11 off SC Hwy 178 at 138 Hagood Mill Road. Hagood Mill is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00, to tour the buildings and grounds and to visit the Mill Site Gift Shop.

“Music in the Mountains 2013” is sponsored by a private benefactor. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. We would also like to thank GateHouse Restaurant for their generous gift of feeding our mill site volunteers.

 For additional information please contact the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963. .