Museum of Appalachia, Norris, Tennessee

                    Saturday 10/5/2013

On our last day in Heiskell, TN., we drove to Norris to visit the Museum of Appalachia.

The museum entrance building contains a gift shop, local arts and crafts and a cafe. You also pay here, with the fee of $16 a person, which we thought was pretty pricey.

The exhibits are numbered and you get a self guided brochure to read as you walk through the museum. Joe is sitting on the front porch of Tom Cassidy's house. Tom was a bachelor, and said he had everything he needed in his small home. Joe always says the same, that he doesn't need much to be happy. I told him, "How about this home, is this small enough for you"? He's sleeping on the porch and would probably be happy as a lark. I'll just build him one of these houses in our back yard (when we find one) and he can live out there while I live in the big house, and I'll be happy as a lark also.

These jail cells are 6 x 9 feet and made in 1874. They came from the jail in Madisonville, TN. The bunks are made of steel. There was a picture of Oprah in one of the jails in the museum.

Outside the People's Building were many of  Harrison Mayes, a coal miner, creations.

Harrison erected many of these crosses across the country.

He really had high dreams of spreading the word.

The museum is laid out like a Appalachian village.

This is Mark Twain's family cabin. It was moved here from Possum Trot, TN. Mark was born 5 months after his family left Tennessee in 1835.

A typical East Tennessee log barn used for storing hay and fodder ( coarse food fed to cattle, horse, and sheep) and sheltering farm animals.

We found these peacocks roaming around in the village.

I like her head dress of feathers.

She looks like a princess with her crown on.

These were some kind of white fluffy chickens in the hen house. After doing some research on the internet I think they are called Silkies chickens. They are suppose to have sweet personalities and make great pets.

There was a turkey in the hen house also.

I have never been this close to a turkey, so I had never noticed that they have such pretty layers of colored feathers.

I can't remember which house this is, but if I had to lived back then, I would have liked this house. I like wrap around porches.

This is a Overhang or Cantilever Barn. The extreme eastern part of Tennessee is one of the few regions in the country where this type of barn is found.

We found the male peacocks in a pasture hunting for their grub.

There are many other buildings such as a leather shop, broom shop, smokehouse, corn crib, church, school house, and much more that I didn't picture for you. We missed the Tennessee Fall Homecoming which is held Oct. 11, 12, & 13. There will be demonstrations of pioneer skills, arts and crafts, southern food, and authentic music and folk festival.

As we were leaving I saw my favorite part of the museum.

I love goats, and these were the miniature size. If we can find property that allows a couple goats, I'd like to have at least two in our new permanent backyard.

This little goat is probably a month old, by the look of the size of the horns. The horns of the goats should have been de-budded when they were a week old. Goats with horns can hurt each other or their owners when left to grow.