Tennessee Fall Homecoming

The Museum of Appalachia has celebrated Tennessee Fall Homecoming the second weekend in October since 1980. I attended this year for my second time and this this time I was there for the full three day event. My friend and longtime traveling companion, Sharon Campbell, made her way from Texas to join me.

Our previous forays had all been related to our Scottish heritage and this proved to be no different. After all, much of the Southern Appalachian Mountains were settled by Scots-Irish who were originally Scots that migrated to Ireland and then to the US. (Not to complicate things, but many of the Scots were originally Irish who had migrated to Scotland as early as the 5^th century.) Many of the entertainers had names beginning with Mac or Mc. And the founder of the museum, John Rice Irwin, can trace his ancestry back to Clan Irwin.

The music of the Appalachians reflects its heritage and you can hear the sound of the Scottish Highlands in many of its songs. It is a fact that Scottish scholars come to the Appalachians to study the traditional Scottish fiddle style that has been preserved here and can no longer be found in Scotland.

Just as the people that attend this festival come from as far away as Alaska and even Japan, so the musicians come from such diverse places as Upper New York and the western US. But they are all drawn to this place by one common thread – their love for the music that is found in these mountains.

So here is my experience of three days of beautiful people and their beautiful music.