PICKENS — In observance of Native American Heritage Month, Hagood Mill will have a special day of milling, memories, and a Native American celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 19.

The mill will be operating rain or shine and the Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site of South Carolina will be open during the same hours.

Paking is $5 for the day but admission is free. All proceeds from parking support programming at the Mill Site.

This event celebrates the area’s Native American history and influences. A number of tribal groups will be represented, including some born and raised in the Upcountry as well as those who have made South Carolina their home.

Visitors and guest performers will participate in the festivities of the day which will include traditional drumming, singing, dancing, Native American flute playing, storytelling, Cherokee hymns in the Cherokee language, and traditional crafts.

Demonstrations will be going on all day throughout the Mill Site including traditional Cherokee blow-gun demonstrations, traditional pottery making, beadwork, basket making, flint-knapping, finger-weaving, and bow and arrow shooting. Many of the participants will have traditional handmade crafts for sale, as well.

Featured performers will include Keepers of the Word drumming group from Saint George. Members are of Ojibwa, Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Catawba, and Wassamassaw tribal heritage from Colleton, Berkeley, Dorchester, Orangeburg, and Sumter counties.

Directed by Cathy Nelson, Keepers of the Word has presented a variety of Native American educational programs as well as spiritual formation seminars and retreats throughout the Southeast.

Other performers include Many Nations Drum and the Thunder Elk Singers hailing from the Catawba Nation in York County. Don’t miss these talented entertainers as they demonstrate the traditional drumming, singing, and dancing from one of South Carolina’s most ancient indigenous tribes.

We are honored to have Nancy Basket on site to demonstrate her world class basket making skills. She will also share some Native American myths and legends with visitors and guests.

Native American flute music of different tribal styles will be presented along with songs in Cherokee performed by the Reedy River Intertribal Singers.

The Boy Scouts of America’s “Order of the Arrow” Native American dance team will perform.

Demonstrations of food-way traditions such as stone grinding of cornmeal, cooking fry-bead, and roasting corn will take place throughout the day.

Collected over generations, some of the truly awesome Crawford Collection of local prehistoric stone points, blades, and tools will be on display for the day. Their pre-historic cooking demonstration using ancient soapstone bowl is too artful to be missed.

Members from the Foothills Archaeological Chapter will be on site to identify Native American stone tools and artifacts.

There will be a special “Children’s Corner” where visitors can make a beaded necklace and have their face painted in a Native American style.

The Hagood Mill Historic Site is located at 138 Hagood Mill Road.

In observance of Native American Heritage Month, Hagood Mill will have a special day of milling, memories, and a Native American celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 19. The mill will be operating rain or shine and the Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site of South Carolina will be open during the same hours.
http://pickenssentinel.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_026.jpgIn observance of Native American Heritage Month, Hagood Mill will have a special day of milling, memories, and a Native American celebration from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 19. The mill will be operating rain or shine and the Hagood Creek Petroglyph Site of South Carolina will be open during the same hours. Courtesy photo

Staff Report