Museum of Appalachia (photo heavy)

 While we were on vacation, we went to the Museum of Appalachia.  We have actually been before so figured we would revisit it, to see if there had been any changes.  Last time we visited there was a festival on with vendors selling things.  Plus crafts and lives demonstrations etc.  This time was just a regular Sunday.

I will say we had a good time visiting all the buildings, but I found the two museum buildings that housed artifacts very musty smelling and we were both rubbing our noses, as it was starting to bother us.

We ate at the cafe and we made poor choices that we found very rich, but that was our fault not theirs.  Here is a link to the Museum; it's less than an hours drive from Pigeon Forge.

The weather was beautiful the day we went.  Oh and we went round the buildings backwards, meaning we started at the end of the self guided tour.  I wanted to do the artifacts buildings last.

Do you remember the tv series Christy?  This was about her and the one room school houses.  I loved that series.

It's worthwhile going too, but it's even better when there is a festival or event on.  They even have RV parking right on the grounds of it.  I found the story interesting about the founder of the museum John Rice Irwin, well worth reading about.

Museum of Appalachia (photo heavy!).......

Thanks to Rose for mentioning this last week, on Saturday we went to the Museum of Appalachia. It was a good hour's drive from Pigeon Forge and we had a super time.  Also on that day there was a big Antiques Show, so we paid $20 to get in rather than $18 each.  The Antiques part of the place was a bust; not our kind of thing, we "didn't get" the type of stuff they were selling.  However the museum part of the day was great and really interesting.  

As I have a lot of photos I will split them up over a couple of days.

The Overhang or Cantilever Barn, seen an example of this up at Cades Cove as well, you can read more about them here.

Saw Mill 

We watched these guys for ages. 

 This guy was a delight to watch, he was the "Boss," look at the cigar hanging out of his mouth.

An "Out House," I wasn't going to inspect it further! 

 One of the many peacocks to be found in the park

 Big Tater Valley School House; there is a Youtube video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90x3POi4jZ8

Irwin's Chapel Church 

 A  Bee Tree, there is more info about them here.

 Turkey and chickens

 Mark Twain's Parents House, you can read more about that here.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to name all the houses, but I went and threw out the directory from the place.  All in all lots of great things to see.