Beacon History Day Announcement

Beacon History Day

Monday, 11 February 2008
WHAT: BEACON HISTORY DAY
WHEN: SATURDAY FEBRUARY 23rd 9:00 a.m.- 1:00p.m.
WHERE: FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF SWANNANOA- 503 PARK ST SWANNAOA


The Swannanoa Valley Museum, in partnership with Warren Wilson College, Serpent Child Ensemble, and the Swannanoa Pride Community Coalition, will hold a Beacon History Day, February 23 at the First Baptist Church of Swannanoa, 503 Park St in Swannanoa.

Community members are invited to bring by their old photographs of Beacon, the mill village, and downtown Swannanoa to be scanned into a computer and returned to them immediately. NO PHOTOS WILL BE KEPT – unless the owner wants to donate them to the Museum.

The “photo swap” will take place from 9 AM till 1PM. The scans will become part of the Swannanoa Valley Museum’s archives and possibly be used in a new documentary being produced by Serpent Child Ensemble about the Beacon Blanket factory and life in the Beacon mill village. Community members without photos to share are encouraged to come look at the Beacon history memorabilia that will be displayed on site. Coffee and snacks will be available.

Serpent Child Ensemble, which created the “Way Back When” series of plays at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts, based on oral history interviews with Swannanoa Valley residents, is creating a documentary film about Beacon and looking for people to share their stories about working at the mill and living in the village. SCE has received support for this project from the North Carolina Arts Council and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University