A Summer at the Augusta Heritage Center

A version of this article is published in the Winter 2023 issue of Goldenseal magazine. It is written by West Virginia State Folklorist Jennie Williams and edited by Laiken Blankenship.

The Augusta Heritage Center celebrated its 50th anniversary of providing enriching educational programming in the folk and traditional arts in 2023. In the summer, the Center hosts three consecutive weeks of workshops in Elkins, West Virginia. Starting with workshops in July and concluding with the Augusta Festival and Craft Fair in Elkins City Park, the Center invites instructors and participating guests, from West Virginia and beyond, to spend a week or more learning about music, craft, dance, and food traditions. Week one centers on classic country, swing, and Cajun music; week two on bluegrass and vocal traditions; and week three on old-time music and dance, and blues. They also offer cooking and craft workshops, and classes during the day for kids. In the evenings, the Center hosts special events open to the public including concerts and dances that feature performances by accomplished instructors. Music jams on the porch of the beautiful and historic Halliehurst mansion or in the residential halls almost certainly take place each night.

In celebration of its 50th anniversary, The Augusta Heritage Center hosted The Augusta Academy to bring rising 11th and 12th grade students in West Virginia to the 2023 summer workshops for free. The selected students also received scholarships to attend Davis & Elkins College.

I attended all three weeks of the summer workshops for the first time and managed the Augusta Heritage Center’s social media. As our work overlaps in many ways, I have become good friends with the Center’s staff, and we’re often seeking opportunities to collaborate. I had the privilege to play in music jams, sit in on classes, attend nightly dances and concerts, connect with professional musicians and experts in their traditions, and share my encounters through the Center’s social media platforms. I presented an in-depth perspective of what attendees of the workshops might learn and gain from the experience.

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Folklorist and former Augusta Heritage Center Folk Art Coordinator Gerry Milnes taught a class on West Virginia ballads and folklore—a highlight from my experience. I met Gerry when I first moved to the state. Gerry has lived in central West Virginia and researched traditional practices in the state for decades, even in retirement. Curious and attentive, he met with musicians to record their stories and music throughout his career. During his class, Gerry played songs and fiddle tunes from his memory that he learned from different people, many of whom are no longer living, like Phyllis Marks, Currence Hammonds, Melvin Wine, and more. In addition to becoming familiar with old-time music from West Virginia, his class demonstrated a valuable lesson in how to thoughtfully and meaningfully carry on the memory of friends who have passed by remembering and sharing their songs and stories. Gerry’s recordings are archived with the Augusta Heritage Center and are publicly available online at their website.

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I was impressed to see so many fascinating workshops and events offered. As soon as I moved into my dorm room on the Davis & Elkins campus, I was warned I would need to pace myself. Once I found my footing, I balanced my remote work obligations with being present and receptive. I posted on social media moments joy and celebration. I witnessed NEA Heritage Fellow and blues harmonica player Phil Wiggins perform on stage and watched Abigail Washburn dance and sing along with Béla Fleck’s banjo accompaniment. I took a couple of classes from the accomplished bluegrass mandolinist Alan Bibey and sang along as vocalist Ginny Hawker pulled musicians around her to perform Hazel Dickens’s “West Virginia My Home” during a late-night porch jam. Many West Virginia musicians performed and taught workshops including Lady D, Bob Thompson, Chance and Tessa McCoy, and more. Importantly, I took opportunities to engage with the local artist community in Elkins.

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While the music events can at times overshadow the craft classes, we must recognize the incredible accomplishments of the craft students committed to learning traditional skills. Artist Wendy Clark, owner of The Yarn Basket in Philippi [Barbour County], taught her students how to weave kitchen towels on a loom using a waffle weave technique. The towels are created in one extended length before being cut and washed, which shrinks them and renders them absorbent. Wendy’s students selected their colors, learned to wind their warps—threads specially measured and put on the loom—and finished their projects all in one week.

On Friday evening, a time when most workshop participants were packing up to head home, I returned to their classroom to see the weaving students remove their finished projects from the looms. One at a time, the students gently laid out their projects for a grand reveal, at which point the assembled group gasped at their stunning beauty. “Each towel tells its own story,” Wendy said as she identified their unique patterns of color. One set of towels contained bright autumn-like colors, while a young student participating in The Augusta Academy used primarily deep blues. Wendy neatly folded each weaver’s project and, using a ribbon that kept track of their weaving measurements, ceremoniously tied a bow around the woven towels. She then presented each one like a gift to the students who made them. It was an honor to be part of the small gathering to celebrate the final project reveal. Meaningful and inspiring, this is what an experience of attending the Augusta Heritage Center’s summer workshops can be.

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Learn more about all of the upcoming 2024 Augusta Heritage Center’s programs including Spring Sing, Fingerpicking Guitar Getaway, Summer Heritage Workshops, Swing Retreat, October Old Time Retreat, Augusta Irish Retreat, and their local community programs.

The Augusta Archive is a collection of music recordings, photographs, and oral histories that span nearly 100 years.

Cover of Goldenseal Magazine Winter 2023.

Pick up your copy of the Winter 2023 issue of Goldenseal and subscribe to the magazine from the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture & History!