Sycamore Shoals Park events include tours, music, and learning activities

Published 12:26 pm Friday, July 10, 2020

Sycamore Shoals State Historic Area has released its calendar of events for July. Events include Sabine Hill House Tours, which are planned at 11:30 a.m. July 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, and 30; and 3 p.m. July 26. Laura Ellis will lead the tours and share about the Taylor family who built the house and were founders of Happy Valley. The tour takes about one hour.

Tours of the Carter Mansion are also planned for the same dates at 2 p.m. in addition to 1 p.m. July 19; 2 p.m. July 25; 1 p.m. July 26; and 2 p.m. July 31. Seasonal interpreter Taylor Moorefield will direct the tours of the oldest frame house in Tennessee, home to Landon and Elizabeth Carter, prominent Carter County settlers who built their home in the late 1770s.. The tour takes about one hour.

Other events planned in July include:

• BASIC & ADVANCED FIRESTARTING with Taylor Moorefield at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 15. Information will be shared on safety, fire structures, gathering tinder and kindling, making fire in rain or snow, natural fire starters from bark and tree sap, fire by friction, flint & steel, plus modern methods with lighters, ferro rods, batteries, trioxane, and more. All ages are welcome and participants will meet at the Longhunter Camp, directly below and to the left of Fort Watauga in the small pine forest.

• COLONIAL LETTER WRITING at 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, with Laura Ellis, instructor, for a 30-minute worship in the Visitors Center.

• MAKING RIVERCANE ARROWS at 10:30 a.m. July 16 with Taylor Moorefield at Watauga Fort.

• A LIFE IN LINEN at 3 p.m. Wednesday, July 15, with Laura Ellis at Fort Watauga. She will discuss the importance of flax and linen on the frontier and fabric dyeing in the late 1700s.

• 18TH CENTURY COFFEE at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 17. Learn about the origins of coffee, how it made its way to the New World and how the settlers of our area would have prepared and enjoyed this drink during the Revolutionary War period.

• USEFUL PLANTS OF APPALACHIA at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 18. Taylor Moorefield will lead a hike on the park walking trail along beautiful Watauga River and identify and discuss the 20-plus plants, trees, and flowers along the trail.

• FRONTIER FIRE STARTING at 3 p.m. Saturday, July 18.

• MUSIC ON THE FRONTIER at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 22. Taylor Moorefield will play songs and tunes from the 18th Century.

• HOW TO PACK FOR AN ADVENTURE at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 23. Learn advance backpacking tips, what not to forget, things you will need for an adventure into the woods.

• CAMPFIRE STORIES at 6:30 p.m. Friday, July 24, with Taylor Moorefield and Laura Ellis. In addition to stories, there will be s’mores.

• FLINTLOCK DEMO at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 25. Get a close-up look at the flintlock rifle and musket, the standard hunting tools and weapons of war from the Revolutionary War period.

• CREEK CRAWL at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 28, with Laura Ellis hosting a critter hunt along the park trail.

• FIFES AND DRUM AND WAR MUSIC OF THE REVOLUTION at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, July 29. Join Taylor Moorefield to get a glimpse of authentic reproductions of rope-tension snare drums, fifes and bass drums.

• KNOT TYEING at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, July 30, with Taylor Moorefield. The program is for persons ages 10 and up.

• FOOD THROUGH TIME at 3 p.m. Thursday, July 30, with Laura Ellis stirring up some food history.

• USEFUL PLANTS OF THE APPALACHIA at 10:30 a.m. Friday, July 31, with Taylor Moorefield leading a hike along the park trail and discussing the 20 plus species of plants, trees, and flowers growing along the trail.

The Visitors Center at the park is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Saturday except from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. when the center is closed for lunch and cleaning. The Visitors Center is open from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday. The park grounds are open from dawn until dusk.

For more information about park activities, call the park office at 543-5808.