Commemorative event recalls stories of the American Revolution
The National Park Service has announced plans for the 2021 Overmountain Day on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The event takes place Saturday, September 18, 2021, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., on the grounds of the Museum of North Carolina Minerals near Milepost 331. The event is free and open to the public.
This family friendly event will feature frontier craft and skill demonstrations and hands-on learning opportunities throughout the day, including candle-making and fire-starting using flint and steel. Eventgoers will learn about the American Revolution in the Blue Ridge Mountains from park staff and volunteers as they walk through an open-air, re-created encampment. To promote staff and visitors’ safety, masks are required outdoors when social distancing is not possible, and at all times when inside the museum building, regardless of vaccination status.
The event commemorates the September 1780 passage of an army of patriots from the surrounding mountain region fighting for independence, on their way to the Battle of King’s Mountain. The journey of these Overmountain Men, as they were called, through the mountain gaps in this area, turned the tide of the American Revolution.
On Friday, September 17, 2021, park staff will also premiere newly developed video content on the park website to help virtual visitors connect to this important story. New virtual content includes traditional games and demonstrations of weaving and other lifeways.
More information about the Overmountain Men’s campaign through southern Appalachia, as well as virtual content developed for the online 2020 event is available now on the park’s website.
