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Holiday Homecoming at Oconaluftee Visitor Center is Saturday, December 15
Old-time mountain Christmas celebration in Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Image courtesy of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
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Experience an old-time mountain Christmas celebration in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On Saturday, December 15, Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host a Holiday Homecoming at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.
Park staff and volunteers will provide hands-on traditional craft demonstrations from
10:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Children and adults will have the opportunity to
make a corn shuck doll, buzz button, and cinnamon ornament to take home.
Visitors will be encouraged to make a cinnamon ornament to hang on the visitor center tree for years to come.
An acoustic old time jam session will take place from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. with a focus on holiday music. "Musical expression was and still is often a part of daily life in the southern mountains, and mountain music is strongly
tied to the Smokies history and culture," said Lynda Doucette, Supervisory
Park Ranger, Oconaluftee Visitor Center. She continued, "We would like to
invite musicians to play traditional Appalachian tunes such as gospel songs
and traditional ballads as they were played on the porches in the old
days."
The visitor center will be decorated for the holiday season and will include an exhibit on Christmas in the mountains in the past. Hot apple cider and cookies will be served on the porch with a fire in the fireplace.
The Oconaluftee Visitor Center is located on Newfound Gap Road (U.S.
Highway 441), two miles north of Cherokee, N.C. For more information call
the visitor center at (828) 497-1904. All activities are free and open to
the public. Support of this event is provided by the Great Smoky Mountains
Association.
Published December 5, 2012
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