September 27–28, 2025 @ Exchange Place
Autumn is arguably the most beautiful time of year in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, andExchange Place Living History Farmgives it the welcome it deserves with its annualFall Folk Arts Festival. Always eagerly anticipated, this year’s event is held Saturday, Sept. 27, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.,andSunday, Sept. 28 from noon until 5 p.m. Admission is $5 for ages 12 and over, with those under the age of 12 admitted free. Proceeds go towards the care of the farm’s resident animals, and are also used in the ongoing restoration and preservation of the site, located at4812 Orebank Road in Kingsport, Tennessee, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
For the53rdyear, artisans from throughout the region gather to demonstrate 19thcentury crafts, as well as to sell a wide array of traditional folk and hand-crafted arts of today. Over 60 vendors, guilds and volunteers fill the site with handcrafted arts, specialty goods, plants, harvest products, demonstrations and education. Visitors can see brooms being made, wood being whittled and baskets of all kinds being woven.
Harvest-time activities, typical of an 1850s farm, are taking place all around the site. In the log kitchen, theEden’s Ridge Hearth Cookery Society, and our energeticJunior Apprentices, prepare some of the foods the Preston family would have eaten in the mid 19thcentury. The artistry and iron expertise of the blacksmith is on display at the forge, where you can pick up a quick lesson in this timeless skill. The newly renovated Gaines Store will be open and offering a view of merchandise sold in that era. Nearby,Ms. Maggie T. Mule, as well as some of Exchange Place’s human volunteers, will once again be extracting juice from sorghum cane so it can be cooked into sorghum syrup. (Please note this will only take place on Saturday, though Maggie will also be around for part of Sunday.) Pure sorghum syrup, made fresh this year by the Guenther family of Muddy Pond, Tennessee, will be on sale for as long as supplies last. Next to the sorghum patch you can see a small area of buckwheat that volunteers have sown as a cover crop to enrich the soil, while also providing nourishment for Exchange Place's honeybees and other pollinators.
TheOvermountain Weavers Guildare demonstratingspinning and weaving techniques in several places around the farmstead. In the Burow Museum, guild members have also curated an exhibit focused on knitting andcrochetingthat features unusual and vintage pieces. In addition, two of their members are offering a Basics of Knitting workshop. Held in the Roseland building Saturday, Sept. 27 at 1 p.m.,Paulette Bruggeman and Jesse Szombathy areteaching the knit stitch, purl stitchand binding stitch, which should give participants the ability to knit a cotton dish cloth by the end of the class. No experience is required, and all written instructions, plus one pair of straight knitting needles and enough cotton yarn to complete two dish cloths, will be provided. This workshop is limited to 10students, and is not recommended for children under the age of 12. The cost is $25, plus a small $1.20 online processing fee.
To pay and reserve your spot for this class, go to this site:file:///C:/Users/msade/Downloads/Events%20%E2%80%93%20Overmountain%20Weavers%20Guild.html%20%20knitting.html.
Exchange Place festivalsalways feature special people demonstrating their special skills, and this one will be no exception. Kathy Martin will be on the Roseland porch, showing how to make paper. In the past, she has used things like iris stalks, okra and yucca, and at theFall Festival she will be using white and denim pulp. Also hard at work will be guitar luthier John Deason, who will be making a new guitar, and will also have five of his original instruments available for purchase.
Children's activities are a favorite feature of Exchange Place festivals for families. Once againTri-State Basket Guildwill be teaching children how to make baskets in the Schoolhouse. Children of all ages always enjoy meeting our horses, cow, and donkey in the 1851 barn, and seeing our sheep grazing in different fields. This year the animals will be part of the Living History FarmScavenger Hunt, in which young visitors can solve riddles, guess the jokes and learn some interesting facts. The annual Scarecrow Challenge, which encourages creativity by individuals, groups and families, will allow people to bring their best scarecrows to the farm on Fridayfrom 9 a.m. until 6 p.m., or Saturday from 7 a.m. until 9 p.m., with the judging taking place on Sunday.
As is tradition, tickets to one of their most popular events — Witches Wynd — go on sale at the festival. ThisHalloween-based storytelling adventure is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, Oct.17andSaturday, Oct. 18, and because only a limited number of tickets are available every year and are snapped up quickly, people are encouraged to purchase them at the festival. Tickets are$10apiece and will be found at theMuseum Shop, where the interior has been re-designed and new products added, many of them unique to Exchange Place.
A variety of food items are available for purchase, including kettle corn, baked goods, lunch itemsand more. And as always during festivals, the grounds of the farmstead will be alive with music. There will be many old favorites playing throughout the weekend, and this year The Checkered Past, Lee County (Virginia) residents will be playing diverse music on a wide variety of instruments throughout their Sunday afternoon set.
For more information, call Exchange Place at423-288-6071, write toexchangeplacefestivals@gmail.com, or visit their website athttps://www.exchangeplacetn.org.
Category: Festival