Heritage Skills
Learn a new craft when you take a Heritage Skill Class at the Foxfire Museum! Foxfire values the preservation of cultural crafts and folk ways and offers opportunities to share this knowledge. Various classes are offered spring to fall each year and teach traditional crafts and practices, such as needle felting, flintknapping and weaving.
Each course is taught by a specialist in each field, many of whom are regular demonstrators at the museum.
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Upcoming Heritage Skill Classes 2024
In-person classes are back! Get hands on with Appalachian history by participating in one of Foxfire’s many craft programs. Details for specific classes can be found by following the button at the bottom of this list.
Basketmaking: Basketmaking is a tradition that predates the arrival of Europeans to the new world. Foxfire offers several options on learning to make beautiful artistic and functional baskets.
“Cigar Box” Dulcimer Construction: The dulcimer is Appalachia’s sole contribution to the music instrument world. Come learn how to build your own with materials you may have close at hand.
Cordage & Glue Making: At the center of heritage skills are functional items like rope and water-tight bowls and buckets. Foxfire teaches the application of these crafts with methods dating back several centuries.
Flintknapping: Making knives and arrows, constructed with local stone, are among the oldest and most necessary skills, handed down to settlers from the region’s original Cherokee inhabitants.
Folded Bark Baskets: Foxfire is fortunate to have several skill providers able to teach the construction of bark baskets, used for collection, transportation and organization within the homes of Appalachian peoples.
Foraging Walks: Foxfire’s 100+ acres includes mountains, wetlands, reclaimed agricultural lands and several miles of trails to explore, all while learning from naturalists from this area.
Leatherworks: Leather-made products were a staple in Appalachia, and in our classes and workshops you can learn how to make a backpack using traditional methods.
Needle & Wet Felting: Part of the broader base of Fiber Arts, we offer several classes where you can make both functional and artistic items using wool or other fibers.
Soap Making: Foxfire’s soapmaking classes focus on using natural products to create soap exactly as our ancestors did in the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Spoon Carving: Learn, in one sitting, how to make a spoon or implement using local wood available close at hand. All participants will leave with a completed carving.
Sewing Basics: Whether for design or application, sewing was a necessary art in most Appalachian homes. Our classes included beginning design up to advanced quilting.
Weaving and Spinning: Among the oldest heritage skills, our traditions related to making yarn from animal fibers and transforming this into clothing and other items is at the heart of these classes.
Woodstove Cooking: Classes and demonstrations on woodstoves and open hearth are some of Foxfire’s most popular options. Join us and learn to make traditional foods in the traditional ways.
Weaving
Ranging from beginner to intermediate, weaving courses are taught by our Village Weaver, Sharon Grist. All classes are taught onsite, using Foxfire’s studio looms. Classes are designed to help beginners learn the basics of weaving and/or experienced weavers perfect their craft.
Spinning
Sharon Grist shares her expertise in working with wool to students interested in learning the intricacies of wool types and varying spinning techniques. From chunky to fingering weight, this class covers it all. Students with their own wheels are encouraged to bring them, but we have wheels available.
Felting
Fiber artist Kelly Coldren loves to explore the whimsical and artistic side of felting. Choose from wet felting or needle felting, and learn how to transform simple wools and silks into beautiful art pieces, like cowls and bowls, or shape them into charming characters like mice and possums.
cooking
Try out classic Appalachian recipes while learning how to cook with fire and cast-iron skillets. Taught by Foxfire’s Tommy Waldrop, these courses provide hands-on learning opportunities for chefs and novices alike in a historic setting.
Blacksmithing
Self-taught blacksmith Micah Hettrick loves to transform discarded metal into knives and other practical hand-forged items. Learn one-on-one with Micah as he teaches you the basics of blacksmithing. Private lessons are now available for those interested in learning to make knives. Contact Micah directly for a private lesson at rubyhoundforge@gmail.com
Foraging & Cookery
Learn about sustainable harvesting of wild foods and Southern Appalachian cooking from South African-born nutritionist and herbalist, Cara-Lee Langston. Cara strives to build relationships with local farmers and to engage community interest in integrative health and wellness through her organization, Wildcraft Kitchen.
Flintknapping
Learn the essentials of flint knapping from Jim Enloe. Classes include basic instruction on how to shape flint and other stones into useful tools such as knives, axe heads, spear heads, and arrowheads using techniques developed over thousands of years. Students take home tools they make over the course of the class.
Woodworking
Learn from long-time Foxfire contact and craftsman Kermit Rood the art of using traditional methods to bottom chairs and carve spoons. Kermit’s classes introduce students to the fundamentals of woodworking as well as basic safety and setup for your home shop. Read about Kermit in The Foxfire Book of Simple Living.