By Troy Brooks
With fall just around the corner, the Banner Elk Museum is holding a fall festival on Sept. 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Come on over and enjoy pumpkin painting, cookies and cider, outdoor activities and tours of the house.
“The festival is the Banner House Museum’s way of celebrating the year and Banner Elk’s heritage before closing its doors for the winter,” said Banner Elk Heritage Foundation President Judy Hilsmier. “It is a simple old-fashioned celebration of our history and the mountain heritage that surround the area.”
The festival will also feature music on the porch performed by children from the Banner Elk Elementary School and their teachers. These children will be preserving the Banner Elk’s porch jam musical tradition and playing old fashioned instruments such as harpsichords, dulcimers and fiddles.
“They’ve played at the museum several time this year,” said Hilsimier. “and it reminds us of 100 years ago when people played on the porch. It’s a wonderful tradition.”
The festival is free and open to the public. Tours of the Banner House Museum will still be operating on the day of the festival and will cost $5 dollars per person. Free tours are also available to children and their accompanying parents.
The Banner House is a 19th century farmhouse and was the home of Samuel Henry Banner, one of Banner Elk’s oldest settlers from the 1870s-1880s. It was here that the town of Banner Elk was started in 1860. The house is an old and beautiful place to visit and allows visitors to see the beauty of what Banner saw back in the late 1800s. With people growing more interested in history over the years, the home is a significant part of history as it allows modern folk to see old homes. The museum is run by the Greater Banner Elk Heritage Foundation.
The Banner House Museum is a significant part of Banner Elk’s history and Sept. 26 will be the last day people can appreciate its heritage before the museum closes for the year. The museum will not reopen again until June of 2016.
The Banner House Museum is located on 7990 Hickory Nut Gap. Road in Banner Elk.
The museum hosts daily tours throughout mid-June through September by volunteer docents willing to introduce guests to the life of the 1800s.
For more information, please call 828-898-3634 or visit www.bannerhousemuseum.org.
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