For immediate release August 27, 2008
FORT LOUDOUN STATE HISTORIC PARK AND THE SEQUOYAH BIRTHPLACE MUSEUM PRESENT THE GREAT ISLAND FESTIVAL
SEPT. 6-7 FESTIVAL TAKES VISITORS BACK IN TIME
Vonore, Tenn. – The Fort Loudoun State Historic Park and the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum are partnering for the Great Island Festival, which will feature concurrent events Sept. 6-7 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. each day.
The Great Island Festival at Fort Loudoun State Historic Park will take visitors back in time to an 18th Century Trade Faire where visitors will find encampments of 18th Century soldiers, settlers and American Indians. The soldiers will demonstrate artillery and musketry and will engage in battles and skirmishes. Merchants and artisans will be on hand to peddle food and wares reminiscent of the time. Music and other entertainment will be featured on two stages, with acts including the Celtic band Father, Son and Friends and The Traveling Caudells, a traditional vocal duo. Mr. Bayley the 18th Century magician, Common Stocks Curious Booth of Wonders, Otto the Sword-swallower and the Amazing Juggling Budabi Brothers will also delight and astonish visitors of all ages.
At the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum, visitors will have the opportunity to experience Cherokee food, arts and crafts demonstrations, music and dance, and an American Indian encampment featuring the time periods of the 1400s and 1700s through 1900s. There also will be a special display highlighting the Cherokee experience in the Vietnam War. Other features include a Cherokee history quiz and a poster contest featuring children from Cherokee Elementary School in Cherokee, North Carolina. Special entertainment will be provided by the Raven Rock Dancers and the Warrior Dancers of Ani-Kituhwa, as well as educator Paula Nelson and native culturalist Diamond Go-Sti. Cherokee flute player Eddie Bushyhead and storyteller Bob Elderidge will also perform both days. Darts, beads, talking sticks, face painting and free Cherokee name cards will be available for children.
The festival is named for the “Great Island,” a Cherokee village site 250 years ago. Today, Fort Loudoun State Historic Park and the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum occupy an island created by the Tellico Lake Project. To visit, travel Highway 129 to Maryville then take Highway 411 to Vonore. Once in Vonore, turn left on Highway 360. Festival parking is at Sequoyah Birthplace Museum and shuttle buses will provide transportation for visitors from one site to the other, approximately 1.5 miles. Adult tickets are $5.00 to the Trade Faire and $5.00 to the Sequoyah Birthplace Museum. Kids 12 and under are admitted free of charge.
Fort Loudoun State Historic Park is a 1,200-acre site on the location of one of the earliest British fortifications on the western frontier, built in 1756. Nearby were the principle towns of the Cherokee Nation including Tenase, namesake of our state, and Tuskegee, birthplace of Sequoyah. Today the fort and the 1794 Tellico Blockhouse overlook TVA's Tellico Reservoir and the Appalachian Mountains.
For more information about the park or the Great Island Festival, contact the Fort Loudoun State Historic Park office at 423-884-6217 or visit the Web site at: http://tnstateparks.com/FortLoudoun/.###
For more information contact: Tisha Calabrese-Benton |
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