PICKENS - Come join the friends of the Pickens County Museum as “Music in the Mountains 2012” kicks out the old year and jump-starts the new with the Hagood Mill hosting a special “Ringing in the New Year with Old Time Music” concert on Saturday, January 21. This free event will include a performance in the Visitor’s Center from 12:00 to 2:00, featuring a solo concert by old time banjo master Frank Lee of the Freighthoppers. The Freighthoppers are one of the top “old time” stringbands in the country. Back in the spring of 1996, before they were as well known as they are today, the Freighthoppers were the stringband winners of the Pickens County Museum’s FIRST Ole Time Fiddlers Convention. Frank is a great performer and entertainer and is sure to set your cold winter toes a’ tapping! Seating is very limited and first-come, first-served. There will be a jam following the concert. Also, there are usually a couple of jams going on around the site. Come celebrate the New Year with the folks at Hagood Mill! The old gristmill and other demonstrations will be running from 10:00 until 4:00.

The water-powered 1845 gristmill is one of the finest examples of nineteenth century technology in the Upstate and operates just as it has for the last century-and-a-half…the mill will be running throughout the day. In the old mill, fresh stone-ground corn meal, grits and wheat flour will be available, as well as Hagood Mill cookbooks and a variety of other mill related items.

The Hagood Mill hosts a variety of folklife and traditional arts demonstrations each month, including blacksmithing, bowl-digging, flintknapping, chair-caning, moonshining, broom-making, basket-making, pottery, quilting, spinning, knitting, weaving, woodcarving, open-hearth cooking, metal-smithing, leather-working and more!

There promises to be lots to do and lots of fun! So, head on out, grab a plate of barbeque and enjoy a day at the Mill. Show your support for the Mill and the Pickens County Museum by joining them at this monthly Third Saturday event. The Hagood Mill operates, rain or shine, the third Saturday of every month and is located just 3 miles north of Pickens or 5 ½ miles south of Cherokee Foothills Scenic Hwy 11 off SC Hwy 178 at 138 Hagood Mill Road. Hagood Mill is open Wednesday through Saturday from 10:00 until 4:00, to tour the buildings and grounds and to visit the Mill Site Gift Shop.

“Music in the Mountains 2012” is sponsored by a private benefactor. The Pickens County Museum of Art & History is funded in part by Pickens County, members and friends of the museum and a grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

For additional information please contact the Hagood Mill at (864) 898-2936 or the Pickens County Museum at (864) 898-5963.