A Native American Festival

In observance of Native American Heritage Month, the Pickens County Cultural Commission invites you to join the friends of the Pickens County Museum for a special, and free, day of milling, memories and a Native American Festival at the Hagood Mill Historic Site & Folklife Center. The Mill will be operating, rain or shine, on Saturday, November 18 from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. This 1845 gristmill, with its' 20 ft. overshot wooden waterwheel, is one of the oldest mills still producing grain products in South Carolina.

This festival celebrates our Native American influences. A number of groups will be represented. They include individuals born and raised here as well as those who have made South Carolina their home. They include the Cherokee, Catawba, Lakota Sioux, Mohawk, Oneida, Navaho and others.

Dr. Will Goins, Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of South Carolina says that, in 2005, the state gave official recognition to four South Carolina Native American groups. Dr. Goins, appearing courtesy of the South Carolina Humanities Council, will talk with visitors about these groups and other Native American history, culture and tradition.

Beckee Garris, Catawba potter and storyteller, will be on hand to demonstrate Native American pottery techniques at the Murphree log cabin. Beckee, great-granddaughter of the late Chief Sam Blue and the granddaughter of the late Chief Albert Sanders, Sr., will also do some storytelling at the main music stage throughout the day.

The Reedy River InterTribal Association, part of the Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquois and United Tribes of SC; have recently built a Traditional Long House and Trading Post near Grey Court, SC. Group leader, Pat Langley, states that the group counts about 90 members. Many of the members will participate in the festivities of the day which will include: traditional drumming, singing, dancing, Native Amer