The family fun-filled Pioneer Day Festival at Mountain Gateway Museum and Heritage Center Saturday, April 23, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., will provide a free day of activities for all ages. A special feature will be the exhibit of the 22 Regiment N.C. Troops battle flag on loan from the N.C. Museum of History April 21 to 24 only.
Pioneer Days Festival
Traditional Appalachian crafts demonstrations, musicians, authors, Civil War re-enactors, antique cars and equipment are some of the offerings. Children will enjoy storytellers, games, animals, wagon rides, exhibits and more. This event celebrating western North Carolina history and heritage started in 1984.
The creekside amphitheater will feature performances of two bluegrass bands, Possum Creek at 11 a.m. and Jonah Riddle & the Carolina Express at 2 p.m. New to Pioneer Day will be the African-American gospel group, Brothers N Christ, performing at 1 p.m. Friendship Dulcimers will play old-time favorites at noon on the museum's front porch.
Crafters will demonstrate many traditional skills throughout the day, including spinning, weaving, dyeing, blacksmithing, rug hooking, quilting, woodworking, broom making, and more. Although the list of craftspeople is evolving, some long-familiar faces from the North Carolina State Fair and the Mountain State Fair, such as Buncombe County broom maker Marlow Gates and McDowell County spinner and weaver Anne Allison, will be present.
Vendors will have crafts for sale, including first-time Pioneer Day vendor English Farmstead Cheese of Marion. Food vendors positioned around the museum's fountain and river rock gazebo will offer hamburgers, hot dogs, barbecue, fish sandwiches, nachos, funnel cakes, fresh-squeezed lemonade and other gastronomic delights.
22nd Regiment North Carolina Troops Flag
A singular offering of the 2016 Pioneer Day Festival will be an exhibition of the historic 22nd Regiment N.C. Troops battle flag Thursday through Sunday, April 21-24. Men from McDowell, Alleghany, Caldwell, Caswell, Guilford, Randolph and Stokes counties served in the 22nd Regiment as part of Brig. Gen. Alfred Moore Scales' Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia. Many descendants of these men live in the area.
The regiment fought in the major battles of Chancellorsville, the Wilderness, and Spotsylvania, and experienced terrible losses on July 3, 1863, the final and bloodiest day at Gettysburg. On that day, Priv. Michael McDonough from the 42nd N.Y. Infantry Regiment captured the 22nd Regiment's flag. The United States secretary of war returned this and other captured Tar Heel flags to North Carolina in 1905.
The state's largest Civil War re-enactment group, the 26th Regiment N.C. Troops, Reactivated, formed a partnership with the N.C. Museum of History to raise money to conserve the museum's large collection of Civil War flags, including the 22nd Regiment's battle flag. Local descendants of men who fought under those flags also contributed to the project to fund flag conservation.
Members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans Camp 379 will hold a short program at 2 p.m. during Pioneer Day to commemorate the soldiers who fought and died under this Confederate banner and to recognize some of their descendants. Civil War re-enactors with Camp 379 will also stand guard over the battle flag during its four-day exhibition.
During the Pioneer Day Festival weekend, members of S.C.V. 379 and the 22nd NC Regiment will be encamped on the museum's grounds. On Friday, April 22, they will host an estimated 300 area students at a Student Civil War Day, featuring demonstrations of Civil War camp life, including cooking, drilling, and music. A full-size artillery piece will be part of the encampment.
For more information about the free 2016 Pioneer Day Festival or the exhibition of the 22nd Regiment N.C. Troops battle flag, please contact RoAnn Bishop at Mountain Gateway Museum either by phone at (828) 668-9259 or by e-mail at roann.bishop@ncdcr.gov.
For more information about the S.C.V. 379's encampment and Civil War activities during Pioneer Day Festival weekend, please contact Jeff Cordell at (828) 659-6377 or cordellcsa@yahoo.com.
Mountain Gateway Museum & Heritage Center is located at 24 Water Street in Old Fort. Hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 5 p.m.; and Monday, noon to 5 p.m. The museum is part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives and History, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.