Event Schedule for 2012

See the days of pioneer Appalachia brought to life by local families as the Foxfire Museum & Heritage Center hosts two days of living history, with adults and children dressed in 1800s period clothing, showcasing almost every facet of life from 200 years ago in these mountains. Cooking simple food in a stone fireplace, crafting wood furniture with hand tools, blacksmithing in a coal-fired forge, one-room schoolhouse classes covering the Appalachian “three Rs” (Readin’, ‘Ritin’, and Religion), short church services, a quilting bee, plenty of old-time kids’ games (everyone is invited to join in), live traditional music — all of these activities (and likely more) bring the Foxfire Museum to life, as the parents, children, and friends of the Rabun Christian Home Educators and other volunteers recreate the unsophisticated but strenuous lives of the hardy folks that made these majestic mountains our home. Also, on Saturday, there will be a raffle drawing for a hand-made footstool constructed by woodwright Max Woody, of Marion, NC.

Hours are 9:30am—4:30pm both days. Admission cost is the regular Museum rate—$6.00 for adults, $3 for ages 7-10, and free for children 6 and under. On Friday, home school families receive a discounted admission fee of $3 per person.

Event proceeds will help support the Museum's mission of preserving the heritage of Southern Appalachia and making it sharing it with visitors and students for generations to come.

October
6

Foxfire
Mountaineer
Festival

Foxfire will again partner with the Mountaineer organization to host the Foxfire Mountaineer Festival on Saturday, October 6, at the Rabun County Civic Center in Clayton, GA.

Visit the Foxfire Mountaineer Festival's new wesbite,
www.foxfiremountaineer.org
for full details on plans for this year's even-bigger event!

2011 Foxfire/Julia Fleet Scholarships

As a young girl, Julia B. Fleet
developed an affinity for the North
Georgia Mountains and their residents.
Ms. Fleet came to Foxfire in 1989
while searching for a way to contribute
something significant back to the
area where she had spent so
many pleasurable days.

For over 30 years, Rabun County High School students involved in Foxfire programs have received scholarship funding from The Foxfire Fund, Inc. These scholarships are currently funded through an endowment established by philanthropist Julia B. Fleet, who came to Foxfire looking for a way to express her affinity for the mountains of north Georgia and the people she met here. The Julia Fleet/Foxfire Scholarships are awarded based on four main criteria—student participation in Foxfire programs, each student’s potential for success, their demonstrated financial needs, and their academic achievements.

To receive this scholarship, students must have either participated in The Foxfire Magazine program at Rabun County High School. Consideration is given to quantity and quality of participation—Foxfire classes taken, number of articles written, leadership positions held, and involvement with any special projects, events, or committees. Scholarship recipients are encouraged to maintain active volunteer involvement with Foxfire. Volunteering is promoted as a way to help the students maintain ties to Foxfire itself, and, most importantly, to maintain ties to their home community.

On the scholarship application, answering questions about future goals and preparation to achieve these goals contributes to rating each student’s “potential for success.” Each student’s application and information is anonymously ranked by the Scholarship Committee of the Foxfire Community Board and by Foxfire staff. Individual scholarship awards are then calculated based on the available funding, weighted by each student’s overall ranking. Community Board members Emma Chastain, Danny Flory, Ramey Henslee, Nicole Queen, and Juanita Shope served as this year’s scholarship committee.

In the scholarship program’s 35 years, 311 local students have been awarded a total of approximately $834,000. For the 2011–2012 academic year, six new scholarships were awarded to Kaley Boatwright (attending Southwestern Community College), Christina Dills (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College), Brad Jordan (Gainesville State College), Jennifer Mitcham (Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College), Keifer Phillips (North Georgia Technical Institute), and Shanda Speed (Young Harris College). Six other Rabun County students are continuing their higher education this fall with the assistance of the Julia Fleet/Foxfire Scholarship program: Casi Best, Viola Nichols, Ashley O'Shields, Alex Owens, Anna Phillips, and Samantha Fountain Ramey.

Celebrating its 45th anniversary this year (with a new book to be released soon), Foxfire continues its tradition of giving back to Rabun County through the documentation of our local heritage in The Foxfire Magazine, preservation of the Southern Appalachian way of life at The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center in Mountain City, and helping our students further their education through the Julia Fleet/Foxfire Scholarship program.

The newest recipients of Julia Fleet/Foxfire Scholarships, receiving awards for the 2011–2012 academic year: (L to R)
Jennifer Mitcham, Kaley Boatwright, Keifer Phillips, Brad Jordan, and Shanda Speed. (Not pictured: Christina Dills)