Day #200 - Museum of the Cherokee Indian

Gatlinburg, TN
Guest Blogger - Beth

In the beginning the earth was wet and soft. The animals sent the Great Buzzard out to find a place for them to go. He soared over the soft earth until he grew very tired. Where his wings struck the earth were valleys; and when he rose to the sky, were mountains. This was Cherokee country….

So on June 12, though another very hot and humid day, we braved the weather to check out the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. We made a couple stops along the way. One was to a farmer’s market. Kelly had a hankerin’ for some killer brownies. We found a couple of musicians selling plants. Kelly recognized them as the ones pictured on a CD of local music I had purchased the day before to give to my father for his birthday. (It would supplement his 2000+ CD collection) Sure ‘nuf, they were the same. Named Boogertown Gap, you had to know they were special (http://www.boogertowngap.com). So they played a couple of tunes for us, until the rain started. Kelly bought the same CD I had, asked the players to autograph it and we switched so I could give the autographed copy to my dad. That was great.

We arrived at the museum to find the Cherokee Voices Festival in full swing. Booths were set up, covering most of the sidewalks around the building. Craftspeople showed off traditional fare of river cane baskets (some so tiny, they would fit inside a thimble), effigy pottery, stone carvings, paintings, blowpipes and the like. There was a small covered area for performers to gather. Singers, dancers and storytellers were scheduled throughout the day.

I succumbed to the heat, so Lori and I went inside to enjoy the air conditioning. Suzie and Kelly toughed it out and ended up enjoying an enlightening conversation with a native storyteller. I’m sorry I missed out on that.

The museum is huge – much larger than it appears from the outside. You will need to dedicate at least 2-3 full hours to see everything. There is only one bench on the path. I recommend they install more. The exhibits include archaeological timelines, traditional folktales presented with interesting special effects, and historically accurate accounts of the best and worst times. The curators use many different types of presentations from two-dimensional to 3-dimensional and holographs to draw your interest. It was well thought out and didn’t dwell on one thing too long.

The museum has a very nice gift shop. There are some mass-produced items that cater to the tourist crowd (I bypassed the shirts made in China) but they also have some hand-crafted, unique items. I bought a couple of books and I’m considering becoming a museum member. The website is www.cherokeemuseum.org. There’s some really great information.