Here is a feature article from the Fall, 2006 Issue

Foxfire turns 40

By Jennifer Whittaker

For 40 years Foxfire has chronicled and promoted the Appalachian heritage of Rabun County and the North Georgia mountains.
The Grist Mill at the Foxfire Center is a complete vintage corn mill driven by an overshot water wheel.

The program began in the fall of 1966 at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School as a way to motivate high school students. Attempting to make school relevant for his students, teacher Elliot Wigginton supervised students in interviewing local residents regarding their Appalachian heritage and writing about the folklore in a magazine they published. The students named their magazine Foxfire for the bluegreen glow given off by bioluminescent lichens that grow on decaying wood.

What began as a school project has grown into a cultural icon that changed the way outsiders view the region and helped the residents of North Georgia take pride in their mountain heritage.

“We try to fight the public perception of Little Abner that some folks have of the area,” explains Ann Moore, president and executive director of The Foxfire Fund, Inc.

A Rabun County native who has worked with Foxfire in various roles for 30 years, Moore credits the program’s longevity to people’s desire to preserve the knowledge of a passing lifestyle.

“I really think Foxfire has succeeded because we’re preserving a
For the past 40 years Foxfire has documented the Appalachian heritage of North Georgia. Through the years, Rabun County students have interviewed local residents and artisans such as Claud Connell, a cooper, who is shown demonstrating how mountaineers once made their buckets, churns and barrels out of wood. Photo courtesy of Foxfire
small part of Appalachia and the history of the area,” Moore says. “It’s so important to instill in new generations of young people the value of preserving that past for the future.”

In 1972, Doubleday began anthologizing the magazine in a series of Foxfire books, which explores how the people of Appalachia lived. The 12 volume series and four specialty books published by Foxfire detail how the people of Appalachia gardened, farmed, cooked, worshiped, celebrated holidays and played.

A teaching method called the Foxfire Approach is taught at Piedmont College in Demorest to train teachers how to incorporate Foxfire’s basic foundations of student choice, using the community as a resource and giving students an audience beyond the classroom for their work.

Actor Hume Cronyn and playwright Susan Cooper wrote a play based on the Foxfire books that appeared on Broadway in 1982. The play was later adapted into a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie starring Cronyn, Jessica Tandy and John Denver.

The Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center, located at the foot of Black Rock Mountain off of Highway 441, in Mountain City, offers visitors a glimpse of what life was like for mountain residents over 150 years ago. The center includes a collection of more than 20 historic log cabins and replicas of traditional log buildings including a chapel, blacksmith shop, mule barn, grist mill and single-room home.

Some of the authentic structures date back to the early 1800s. The center also displays artifacts and crafts Foxfire students have gathered during the past 40 years as they interviewed area residents for the magazine. Artist-in-residence Sharon Grist is present most days to demonstrate the art of spinning. The center is open Mon.-Sat., 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults. Children 10 and under are free.

On Sept. 30, the 12th Annual Foxfire Fall Heritage Festival will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Dillard City Hall, just a few miles up the road from the Foxfire Center on Hwy. 441. The festival will include a release party and book signing for the Foxfire 40th Anniversary Book: Faith, Family and the Land. Festival goers will also be able to watch artisans demonstrate how to make pottery, cornshuck dolls, soap, candles and much more.

The Foxfire Boys, a bluegrass band that was formed by former Foxfire students, will perform, along with other groups. Festival admission is $4 for adults and free for children 10 and under. The Foxfire Center will also be open for tours during the festival. Visit www.foxfire.org or call (706)746-5828 for more information about the festival or Foxfire.