Exchange Place Living History Farm: Spring Garden Fair

Kingsport, TN – After a cold winter, our reward is spring, and in its time-honored area tradition,
Exchange Place Living History Farm will once again celebrate the planting season with its annual Spring
Garden Fair. The oldest garden fair in our region will be celebrating its 38th year on Saturday, April
27, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., and Sunday, April 28, from noon until 5 p.m., at the 1850s
farmstead, located at 4812 Orebank Road in Kingsport. Admission is $5 for adults and is free
for children under the age of 12.  Proceeds from the event helps keep our animals fed, and also goes
towards the restoration and upkeep of the site, which is proudly listed on the National Register of
Historic Places.

Always eagerly anticipated by area gardeners (beginners as well as experts), the Fair will feature
thousands of plants for sale, ranging from old favorites to rare and hard-to-find varieties. Growers will
offer perennials, annuals, trees and shrubs, with an emphasis on herbs, natives and heirloom plants,
including a wide assortment of heirloom tomatoes. And what makes this festival so popular is that
gardening experts are available throughout the weekend to answer questions and share their knowledge
about plant selection and care. Another inimitable feature is that folk and yard artisans are also found all
around the campus, displaying unique plant and garden-related arts and crafts.

True to its mission, Exchange Place will offer slices of 19 th century life in almost every corner. Over on
the Roseland side, the Burow Museum will be eagerly welcoming visitors, while just a few feet away, in
an area between the Museum and the barn, our sheep will be getting their hair cut! T.J. Dewitt will be
performing this shearing the sheep spring ritual both days: on Saturday, you can see it at 10:30 am,
12 noon, 1:30 and 3:30 pm, while on Sunday it will take place at 12 noon, 1:30 and 3:30 pm. The
Overmountain Weavers Guild will then take that wool and continue their long “Sheep to Shawl”
tradition of carding (cleaning, separating and straightening) the wool, spinning it into yarn and weaving
that yarn into scarves and, perhaps, other beautiful and wearable items.

Across the road on the historic farm side of Exchange Place, the hearth kitchen will be filled with
wonderful aromas supplied by the Eden’s Ridge Hearth Cookery Society. On Saturday, they will be
churning butter, to be used on Sunday when they make pound cake. They will also be making hoecakes,
jumble cookies, and fried eggs with asparagus in the Cook’s Cabin. Other Junior Apprentices will host
the annual Tennessee Dancing Gourd spinoff, as well as perform chores in the barn, woodshed and
garden — a glimpse into how life was lived on an antebellum Northeast Tennessee farm.

A special feature this year will be the presence of noted broom maker John Alexander. A graduate of
Berea College, he has been making brooms, and teaching this craft, for nearly half a century, and he will
be giving demonstrations at his booth all weekend (as well as having traditional Appalachian brooms,
broomcorn seed, and broomcorn woven walking sticks available for sale).  He is also offering workshops
in Cobweb broom-making. The Saturday class is already filled, but Mr. Alexander is willing to add one on
Sunday, from 3 pm until 5 pm. The cost will be $30, with all materials supplied. If interested, people
should write to epfestivals.gf@gmail.com to see if spots are still available, and send their checks
(payable to Exchange Place) to us at 4812 Orebank Road, to reserve their spot.

Another unique event will be the sowing of buckwheat on the cane patch. Weather permitting, longtime
volunteer Mark Selby plans to offer up times when festival attendees can help sow buckwheat.  This
will serve as a cover crop that not only helps build healthy soil, but will also serve as a food source for
bees and other beneficial insects.  He also plans to give away small packets of buckwheat seeds so that
folks can sow them at their homes, which will help the endangered bees.

As you can see, we have come to expect the Spring Garden Fair to be filled with fascinating events, and
there are more to report. A wide variety of hands-on children’s activities will be found all around the
grounds, including Cynthia Holt offering lessons in basketmaking. The blacksmith shop will be up and
running, demonstrating the necessity of this skill in the years before the Industrial Revolution. The Boy
Scouts will guide visitors in making rope. The joyous Maypole decoration and dance will take place at 2
pm on Sunday. Brought to this country by our European ancestors, it is a traditional and colorful
celebration of spring, and will feature the Junior Apprentices Old-Time Band. Everyone always enjoys
seeing our resident animals, including Delilah (our cow), Jenny (our donkey), plus the sheep, pigs and
cats who will be scattered about. As always, music will fill the air during the Spring Garden Fair, as an
overabundance of local talent is scheduled to perform throughout the weekend. (A complete schedule is
listed below, though it is always subject to last-minute changes.) And don't worry, if you get hungry or
thirsty, baked goods, lunch, drinks and snacks (including the ever-popular kettle corn!) will be available.

The Spring Garden Fair strives to be as environmentally friendly as possible with recycling, composting,
and re-using.  Visitors are encouraged to bring their own plant carriers and to bring used nursery pots
for recycling/reusing.

Exchange Place is a non-profit, volunteer-run living history farm, educational facility and regional
attraction that seeks to preserve, protect, interpret, and manage the history, heritage, and artifacts
pertaining to mid-19 th century farm life in Northeast Tennessee. For more information, please call
423-288-6071, or visit our website: www.exchangeplacetn.org.