Busy in school

We’ve had three fun and full days at the Folk School. I had never heard of this place until searching around for some kind of school within driving distance that would have arts courses for both Christa and me. It’s been like tapping into a whole different American subculture. Picture an amateur blacksmith discussing composting with a weaver, and you start to get the idea. I know it sounds like a cliché, but the people we’ve been meeting have really been a wonderful part of our time here.

So today I’ll show and tell you more about the school, and then tomorrow share about the classes we’ve been taking. The school was founded in 1925 as a way of teaching and preserving the skills and arts of the Appalachian region. Today the school runs almost year round, with weekly and at times weekend courses in 48 different subjects, from asymmetrical basketry to story telling to playing the mountain dulcimer.

The Keith House: the heart of operations, from registration to laundry facilities to the one and only wifi connection for miles around.

I already mentioned our rustic-but-full-of-character accommodations in an old grist mill. Here it’s me on the stairway to the second floor, where our room is.

The school owns 320 acres in the middle of nowhere (almost). We’ve enjoyed stealing away to walk the grounds after meals, along groomed trails. Can anyone tell me what this flower is? We saw it on arching stalks along a creek bed.

We walk along this field every morning on our way to breakfast.

Mealtimes are family style, with everyone finding a place at random, to meet your neighbor and to pass the boiled salmon with mango relish—yum!

Meals start off with a blessing read or sung from cards on the table. In this case, enthusiasm wore off quickly. I think it was the hand motions that did it.


Last night, after dinner, we sat in on a performance of a variety of folk dances. They were originally gathered up in England among the poor immigrants living in neighborhoods around industrial revolution factories. I didn’t have a camera with me, but this photo from the internet gives you an idea.