Hagood Mill Celebrating Armed Forces Day May 18

Come join the friends of the Pickens County Museum as “Music in the Mountains 2013” continues with the Hagood Mill hosting a special “Armed Forces Day” concert on Saturday, May 18. This free event (donations appreciated) will feature a performance on the mill’s outdoor stage from 11:30 to 3:00 with the mill site’s great “house band,” Rocky Bottom Bluegrass, and SC Folk Heritage Award winning fiddler, multi-instrumentalist and entertainer, Nick Hallman. Nick and friends will do a variety of music, stories and fun (including a demonstration of mountain toys).

Opening the show at 11:30 will be a performance of patriotic music by the Classic Stringers, a home-school orchestra from Greenville directed by Donna Ringenberg. The group played this month for the “Honor “Flight” that took veterans to Washington. Bring a lawn chair and plan on staying a while for some great patriotic, bluegrass and old time music. Bring your instrument too, as there are usually a couple of jams going on around the site. The old gristmill and other demonstrations will be running from 10:00 until 4:00.

 Present on site for Armed Forces Day will be the Military History Club of the Carolinas with military vehicles, historians and re-enactors. Hampton’s Legion – Hart’s Battery will be onsite with an encampment of “War Between the States” era soldiers, along with the Calhoun Light Artillery. Come out and enjoy this educational tribute to America’s Armed Forces.

A special presentation will be made at 1:00 p.m., as a new State Historical Marker from the South Carolina Department of Archives and History will be unveiled on the site. The marker tells of the historic gristmill and the site’s ancient petrogylphs. Present for the unveiling will be Senator Larry Martin, Representative Davey Hiott and County Councilman Randy Crenshaw.

The old water-powered 1845 gristmill is one of the finest examples of nineteenth century technology in the Upstate and operates just as it has for the last century-and-a-half…the mill will be running throughout the day. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits and wheat flour will be available, as well as Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items.

The Hagood Mill hosts a variety of folklife and traditional arts demonstrations each month, including blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flintknapping, chair-caning, moonshining, broom-making, basket-making, pottery, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, open-hearth cooking, metal-smithing, leather-working and more! 

There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun! So, head on out, grab a plate of great food from the Gatehouse Restaurant folks and enjoy a day at the Mill. Show your support for the Mill and the Pickens County Museum by joining them at this monthly Third Saturday event. The Hagood Mill operates, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month and is located just 3 miles north of Pickens or 5 ½ miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic Hwy 11 off SC Hwy 178 at 138 Hagood Mill Road. Hagood Mill is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00, to tour the buildings and grounds and to visit the Mill Site Gift Shop.

“Music in the Mountains 2013” is sponsored by a private benefactor. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Hart’s Battery and Calhoun Light Artillery is sponsored in part for the day by Ken Nabors and Ed Bolt.

For additional information please contact the Hagood Mill at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963.