National Park Hosts Holiday Homecoming
Holiday Homecoming:Photo provided by National Park Service
Great Smoky Mountains National Park will host a Holiday
Homecoming at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center on Saturday,
December 20, 2014. The visitor center will be decorated for the
holiday season including an exhibit on Christmas in the
mountains. Park staff and volunteers will provide hands-on
traditional crafts and activities from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Children and adults will have the opportunity to learn
about and experience some of the traditions surrounding an
Appalachian Christmas. Hot apple cider and cookies will be
served on the porch with a fire in the fireplace. From 1:00 p.m.
to 3:00 p.m., the park will host the monthly acoustic old time
jam session.
“Musical expression was and still is often
a part of daily life in the southern mountains, and mountain
music is strongly tied to the Smokies history and culture,” said
Lynda Doucette, Supervisory Park Ranger, Oconaluftee Visitor
Center. “This month our music jam will focus on traditional
holiday tunes. We would like to invite musicians to play and our
visitors to join us in singing traditional Christmas carols and
holiday songs as was done in old days.”
The Oconaluftee
Visitor Center is located on Newfound Gap Road (U.S. Highway
441), two miles north of Cherokee, N.C. For more information,
call the visitor center at (828) 497-1904. All activities are
free and open to the public. Generous support of this event is
provided by the Great Smoky Mountains Association.
Photo: NPS/Ranger, visitors, and guests enjoy traditional
holiday tunes at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center.
