Back From the Folk School...

OK, just so the stage is set... I had one of the best times I could possibly imagine... Now that I've stayed at the facility, I can honestly say that I think the John C. Campbell folk school is a national treasure!

I'm hoping that I will be motivated enough to do a series of posts about my experiences, but we shall see... Procrastination is my middle name.

Anyway... today, for folks that are not familiar with how to arrange logistics for a trip like this, here is how I did it...

We flew (from Oregon) to Atlanta, GA on Saturday, rented the car, and then went to stay the night with some friends of ours who live in the north Atlanta area.  This was a treat in itself, because I haven't seen them since we moved back to my home state a number of years ago.

On Sunday, after a leisurely breakfast, we left their house (around noon), and started driving north.  It's a good thing that the cell phone GPS works well, because I was driving a route that isn't necessarily the route that the folk school driving instructions say.....  I'm not too sure there is a direct route.  But we just started driving north, following the cell phone instructions, and once we were off of GA400, we drove through some beautiful rural areas.  It was two lane curvy roads through the hills/mountains with all the folliage not yet turning colors, but on the verge...

I would have to say, the campus of the folk school looks a lot like the surrounding area, simply because I couldn't tell what was part of Brasstown (the closest "town"), and what was part of the folk school.  I believe the population of teachers/students/staff must be larger than that of the Brasstown community, so we very suddenly went from driving on the rural road system to being "there"!  In fact, if you look at a google satellite view of Brasstown, the folk school encompasses (300 acres) of land including the very big expansive field to the west of Brasstown.  Brasstown Road actually divides the folk school property in half with most of the studios located west of the road.

We arrived at the folk school by mid-afternoon, in time for check-in, and were given our room assignments at the Keith House, which accomodates the staff, library, community room, and sleeping quarters for work study students, etc. Our lodgings were in the Davidson house, which also housed the studios for Music (Dulcimer), Cooking (Indian food), and Silk Screening.  Our room was on the third floor of the building, which actually had four rooms plus a commons area.  The house also had some wonderful rocking chairs for sitting out on the porch and contemplating the scenery.  Our room had three twin beds, and a private bath.  When we arrived in our room, fresh linens were there ready for us to use - we had to make our own beds though! *grin*.  I would consider the accommodations basic and comfortable.  After all, the only time we actually spent in our room was to sleep, so we didn't need much.

One thing I didn't realize when I planned this trip, was that although most of the studios are a short distance away - across the road, there are many others that are in the combined housing/studio spaces.  It can be a bit of a walk to get around.  The Folk School can accomodate handicapped individuals in that if you need a wheelchair or cannot walk well, your best option would be to drive between your housing, dining, and studio.  If you do this, you are likely to do fine, and parking is not difficult.  If you are inclined to walk - as I am, you might find yourself doing quite a bit of walking by week's end.

Anyway, once we had arrived, and taken our belongings to our room, it was time to explore before dinner!

That's it for now... back to work.

Kay