Once
Upon A Time is a member of BreakAway, a national organization which
links college students with communities to perform service projects
addressing social, cultural, and environmental needs. To learn more
about BreakAway, visit their website at www.alternativebreaks.org.
Once
Upon A Time in Appalachia's mission focuses on the Cherokee Nation, the
environment, and rural Appalachia. We cooperate with several
area agencies and communities, such as the Snowbird Cherokee
community, Cherokee National Forest, Sequoyah Museum, Great Smoky
Mountains National Park, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.
A unique aspect of our program is that we offer a variety of service
learning projects during the week. A typical week involves
two days in a Cherokee community, one day doing trail maintenance, and
one day working on a project at the Sequoyah Museum. We also
make time during the week for homesteading activities such as
splitting/gathering firewood, canning applesauce, working in the garden
(weather permitting), cutting trees to clear ground.
ONCE
UPON A TIME SERVICE PROJECTS:
A
variety of environmental and community service projects are available:
-
Service
projects in the Snowbird Cherokee community. The Snowbird
Cherokee are descendants of the Cherokee who evaded the Great Removal
in the 1850's and hid out in the mountains. Service projects
may include tutoring and activities with preschool children at Snowbird
Child Development Center, visiting with senior citizens at the Senior
Citizens Center, doing a craft project, and talking with them about
their Cherokee heritage, yard work and/or minor home repairs for senior
citizens, and projects at Sequoyah Museum. We'll spend the
night at Little Snowbird Baptist Church and host a dinner for local
Cherokee residents. Tribal leaders and local residents will
interact with the students.
-
Build
wildlife habitats in Ed's workshop for local wildlife refuges or other
special woodworking projects.
-
Trail
maintenance in Cherokee National Forest in the Citico and Joyce
Kilmer/Slickrock Wilderness Areas or in a wildlife management area
adjacent to Once Upon A Time. With federal budget cuts, the
Cherokee National Forest has been without a trail coordinator for over
three years. Students will use fire rakes, mattocks, loppers
and hand clippers to maintain overgrown or damaged trail corridors
(training will be provided), perform campsite maintenance, clear
downfalls
-
Sequoyah
Museum - A museum dedicated to teaching about Sequoyah, the Cherokee
man who created the syllabary.
Students will continue work begun by BA students in 2007 to
create the Lakeshore Trail. A boardwalk through a marsh needs
to be built and benches along the trail.
-
Students
will have the opportunity to experience life on a working Appalachian
homestead. They can assist with tilling the soil and preparing the
garden, canning applesauce or strawberry jam, harvest early spring
crops, split firewood, and various farm chores.
-
Service
projects on the Appalachian Trail and special projects in the Smokies.
-
Planting
trees in wildlife management areas.
EDUCATION:
- Program on Cherokee songs, stories, language
and beading
- Wildflower hike and night hike on the property
- Traditional mountain music at Rocky Branch
School on Friday night
- Mountain Man stories around the bonfire
- Hike in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest to see big
trees in the virgin forest
- Visit an old time saw mill
RECREATIONAL
ACTIVITIES FOR DAY OFF:
- Whitewater rafting on the Nantahala River ($20
per person)
- 1/2 day wilderness survival skills - learn how
to build a debris shelter, make fire.
- Daytime tour of the Lost Sea, world's largest
underground lake ($16)
- Fishing on the Little Tennessee River (free)
- Hiking in the Smokies and visiting Gatlinburg
(free)
- Horseback riding in the Smokies ($20 for 1/2
hr, $30 for 1 hr)
- Bald River Falls
For
additional information on cost, accommodations, meals, what to bring,
etc. please see our Host Site on the Breakaway website www.alternativebreaks.org.
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