Heritage festival sites range from barns to battlefields - Sept. 12-Oct. 31
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Rose Lawn, which derived its name from the 200 rosebushes that once bloomed along the fences and walkways of the estate, will be the setting for an arts and crafts festival this weekend in Cartersville, Ga.
Old McDonald's Farm, above, will be open weekends through Halloween, plus weekdays for school field trips. The farm includes a corn maze, hay maze, wagon rides and other farm activities.FESTIVAL SCHEDULESept. 13-15• Arts Festival at Rose Lawn: Historic Rose Lawn mansion and museum, 224 W. Cherokee Ave., Cartersville, Ga., 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, noon-5 p.m. Sunday, free admission to arts and crafts show, $5 to tour home. Take Exit 288 off Interstate 75, go west 2.5 miles into downtown Cartersville, cross railroad, at second light turn right onto Bartow, at four-way stop turn left onto Cherokee Avenue. 800-733-2280.• Battle of Chickamauga Festival: Barnhardt Circle Polo Field, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, free; food and craft vendors, activities sponsored by Fort Oglethorpe Tourism Association and 6th Cavalry Museum. 706-861-2860.• Civil War 150th Anniversary Events: Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, Fort Oglethorpe, Ga., 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, free but ticketed program; follow military timeline of 1860-1864 with living-history demonstrations, artillery firings, period music and children's activities. Get tickets in advance at park website: nps.gov/chch/planyourvisit/civil-war-timeline-and-special-programs.htm.• Cowpea Festival and Cook-off: Charleston City Park, Worth Street, Charleston, Tenn., 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Saturday, $5 admission includes tastes of dishes in cowpea cook-off, $5 parking. cowpeafestival.com.• Mountaineer's Day Festival: Downtown Tracy City, Tenn., gates open 9 a.m. CDT Saturday-Sunday, $2, games, music, food and craft vendors.• Mountain Music and Arts & Crafts Festival: Vogel State Park, Blairsville, Ga., 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, $5 admission and $5 parking, includes Appalachian, bluegrass and gospel music, along with handmade crafts and concessions by Vogel Volunteers/Friends of Georgia State Parks. 706-745-2628.• Plein Aire Festival: The Arts Center, 420 W. Main St., Blue Ridge, Ga., 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Friday-Sunday, free. 706-632-2144.• White Oak Crafts Fair: The Arts Center of Cannon County, 1424 John Bragg Highway, Woodbury, Tenn., 9 a.m.-5 p.m. CDT Saturday-Sunday, free; arts and crafts show on banks of East Fork Stones River. 615-563-2787.Sept. 12-22, Sept. 26-Oct. 27• Oktoberfest: Festhalle, 1074 Edelweiss Strasse, Helen, Ga., 6-10:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 6 p.m.-midnight Friday, 1 p.m.-midnight Saturday, 1-7 p.m. Sunday, $8 Monday-Friday, $9 Saturday, free on Sunday; annual celebration of German food, music and dance. 706-878-1908.Sept. 14-Oct. 31• Old McDonald's Farm Fall Festival: McDonald Farm, 16705 Coulterville Road, Sale Creek, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. each Saturday, noon-7 p.m. each Sunday and Halloween; open Tuesday-Friday by appointment for school field trips, $12 ages 3 and older, pumpkins an additional charge; weekend farm fun for the family includes hay maze, wagon rides, farm activities. 423-531-CORN.
Heritage festivals headline this weekend's events from Cartersville, Ga., to Cleveland, Tenn.
Rose Lawn, a 150-year-old antebellum home in Cartersville, is the setting for an arts and crafts festival Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 14-15. Rose Lawn's name was derived from nearly 200 rosebushes that once grew around the property. This weekend, vendors' tents will cover the lawn instead, as more than 100 exhibitors are expected. For $5, visitors can tour the grand mansion.
Speaking of 150 years, events commemorating the sesquicentennial of the Civil War's Battle of Chickamauga make a stop in Fort Oglethorpe a must while traveling to or from Cartersville.
The Battle of Chickamauga Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 14-15, on the Barnhardt Circle polo field. Chris McKeever, director of the 6th Cavalry Museum in Fort Oglethorpe, says there will be music, food and craft vendors and tours of the museum.
Just two blocks farther down the road, inside Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, visitors may follow a special military timeline, where they'll encounter living-history demonstrations and artillery firings. There will be children's activities as well as presentations of period music. Although free, this event is ticketed and advance ticketing is recommended.
The lowly cowpea -- more commonly known in the South as black-eyed peas or field peas -- will be celebrated in Cleveland at the second Cowpea Festival. This agri-heritage festival includes a cowpea cook-off, vendors and seven musical acts throughout the day before headliner Billy Dean takes the stage at 6:30 p.m.
In conjunction with this festival, an agri-heritage photo contest was sponsored by the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce. Entries were accepted through the first week of August. Winners will be announced at the festival and their work displayed, says Nancy Neal of the Chamber. Winning photos in each category will be part of a temporary display housed in the new Hiwassee River Heritage Center in Charleston, Tenn.
Another agri-business event offering fun for the family opens Saturday, Sept. 14, at Old McDonald's Farm in Sale Creek. Think: Here a cow, there a cow, everywhere a farm full of animals! Seriously, it's called the Critter Barn, and kids can visit to pet real farm animals.
A day on this farm will include hayrides to the pumpkin patch, pony rodeo, pumpkin slingshot and winding through the 6.5-acre corn maze.
"We also offer food at the Calf-A or at Old McDonald's Mining Co. Store," says Brant Crowder. "Picnic tables are provided in two shaded areas. We have a birthday party area in our 1940s Big Barn, or seek your fortune at Old McDonald's Gem Mine, for an additional charge."
Contact Susan Pierce at spierce@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6284.
At left, Billy Dean, whose hits include "Billy the Kid," "Somewhere in My Broken Heart" and "If There Hadn't Been You," will headline the Cowpea Festival in Charleston, Tenn., on Saturday.