Museum Of Appalachia

Norris is renowned for two museums of Appalachian culture. The Museum of Appalachia Irwin started out collecting odd items as a boy, and as he grew up he realized that the tools and other objects that marked Tennessee mountain life were slowly slipping away, as was the knowledge of what they were and how to use them. Using his own money, he assembled his collection of musical instruments, traps, bits, hand tools, and axes. He has millstones, stagecoach horns, blacksmith tools, sheep shears, and on and on and on. The visitor is simultaneously impressed with how hard life was in "the old days" as well as with the ingenuity and imagination of the people who lived in those times and confronted basic problems without the benefits of hardware stores. Irwin believes that museum objects "should be tied in some way to the people who used them." This philosophy has produced a museum with a warm personality--not a sterile place where visitors walk around with their hands clasped behind them.

An important part of the museum is the Appalachian Hall of Fame, which recognizes, among others, Sergeant Alvin York, the Carter Family, and Cordell Hull, with artifacts from each person. A relatively new exhibit is a Jamestown cabin that once belonged to the parents of Samuel Clemens. His parents moved down to Hannibal, Missouri, before Samuel was born, but the calendar suggests America's foremost humorist was conceived while they lived in Jamestown. The museum periodically sponsors demonstrations of crafts, tool use, music, quilting, and a once-a-year "shooting of the anvil." This earth-shaking event involves two anvils, black powder, and a long fuse.

Admission to the museum is $12.95 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-13. Families get in for $30, and seniors receive a discount. It is open during daylight hours year-round.