The John C. Campbell Folk School is celebrating 100 years of transforming lives, bringing people together and imparting knowledge preserving the Appalachian culture.
The John C. Campbell Folk School is celebrating its centennial beginning at their 49th annual Fall Festival on the weekend of Oct. 4th and 5th, to commemorate the occasion. The celebration will continue through the summer of 2026.
The popular annual Fall Festival was established in 1974. There will be three outdoor areas for vendors, including juried and non-juried areas, that wind through the school campus. On that weekend, visitors will be treated to live music, dance, food, more than 200 crafts people and craft demonstrations. These crafts people are primarily from the southern Appalachian region starting with the Cherokee people.
Appalachian culture is a rich and complex tapestry woven from diverse influences, including Scottish, Irish, German, and African American traditions, and shaped by the region's history of subsistence agriculture, coal mining, and timbering. It includes strong family and community ties, a deep connection to the land, a tradition of storytelling, and a unique blend of religious beliefs and practices.
Bethany Chaney, the school's Executive Director, said the school was actually founded by John C. Campbell’s wife Olive Dame Campbell in 1925.
“She traveled with John C. Campbell throughout Southern Appalachia,” Chaney said. “They studied the conditions of Southern Appalachia and were looking to write a book about how to increase opportunities in this relatively isolated part of the country.”
John C. Campbell died before the book was published. Olive Dame Campbell finished the book and partnered with Marguerite Butler who was affiliated with the Pine Mountain Settlement School in Kentucky. They were both interested in creating educational programs, which was a shared vision of John C. Campbell.
The two women learned about the folk school movement during their travels to Europe and Demark. They came back to the states and discovered a community of crafters, famers, blacksmiths, and artists in Brasstown NC. The community came together, offering land, services, lumber, volunteer time and work to build the school.
“The Folk School started out as a boarding school environment for young people to learn about agriculture and home handicrafts as a means to building their personal or family economy,” Chaney said. “It wasn't focused exclusively on craft, but craft and music and dancing were always a part of the curriculum. They were taught weaving, which was a real practical thing for both girls and boys to learn, and of course sewing was taught, wood carving, woodworking, and blacksmithing. All these things could be used for becoming self-sufficient.”
Today the school continues to teach fiber arts, blacksmithing, enameling, cooking, metal work, instrument making, dance, quilting, soap making, spinning and a variety of other antique art forms while also expanding to modern courses like digital photography.
“Most of the courses have some kind of root or hook in Appalachian culture, but we absolutely teach modern forms of what that means, and also plenty of international and indigenous arts as well,” Chaney said.
The school sits on 270 pristine, natural acres. The campus has walking trails, a history center, a craft shop, studios, on campus housing, RV area and campsites.
“We have on-campus housing, but we don't have enough room for everybody,” Chaney said. “Some people choose to stay off campus. There are hotels nearby. There are Airbnb's. We have a campground, and it is increasingly popular for people to bring their RVs. When I was a student, I stayed in a tent at the campground whenever I came.”
The school offers weekend courses, weeklong courses, two-week programs and even online courses you can access from home.
“These are skills that, not only have a practical use, but also are metaphors for our lives,” Chaney said. “They make us think about intentionality, about how we use the resources in our environment and what our priorities are in life and our relationship with the earth or our relationship with each other.”
Chaney said the classes are small and the focus is on learning, community building and forming new friendships.
“The folk part of the folk school is education by doing,” she said. “It’s learning by dialogue and of the give and take of relationships.”
Course tuitions are based on session length and noted in the class registration details. If you’re staying on-campus, housing rates include delicious and wholesome meals served in the Olive Dame Campbell Dining Hall.
The school has a variety of student houses sprinkled throughout the campus. All are air-conditioned and within walking distance of the studios and the Dining Hall.
There are five levels of housing in a range of prices, from dormitory-style rooms with shared baths to rooms with private baths. One set of linens (sheets, pillowcase, blanket, towel, and washcloth) is provided.
John C. Campbell Folk School
- 1 Folk School Road
- Brasstown, N.C.
- 1-800-365-5724
- Website: www.folkschool.org