Foxfire is one of Appalachia’s most celebrated cultural institutions, born right here in Rabun County, Georgia. In 1966, English teacher Eliot Wigginton and his students at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School set out to document the lives, skills, and traditions of their Southern Appalachian neighbors. The result was Foxfire — a student-produced magazine that captured firsthand accounts of the old ways: hog dressing, log cabin building, moonshining, faith healing, basket weaving, and much more. The magazine’s popularity led to a landmark book series that has sold over nine million copies and is still in print today.

With royalties from those publications, Foxfire students purchased land in Rabun County and built what is now the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center, located at 98 Foxfire Lane in Mountain City, Georgia. Spread across 106 stunning acres on Black Rock Mountain, the museum is an outdoor living history village featuring more than 20 historic structures — including authentic log cabins dating to the early 1800s, a working gristmill, a replica chapel, and a 1790s tar grinder wagon believed to be the only one in the world documented as having been used during the Trail of Tears.

Today, Foxfire continues its mission of preserving and celebrating Southern Appalachian culture through a rich array of programs and experiences. Visitors can tour the grounds, participate in hands-on workshops in traditional crafts like blacksmithing, weaving, and woodstove cooking, and explore the Foxfire Mercantile, which offers handcrafted goods, folk art, and the full Foxfire book series. Student enrichment programs and college scholarships for Rabun County youth remain central to the organization’s mission.

The museum is open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Sunday from noon to 4 p.m. For more information, call 706-746-5828 or visit foxfire.org.