Educational Programs

Programs are offered free of charge although assistance with travel is gratefully accepted. Help us provide a great program by sharing what your class is studying, any special needs your group has, and what you would like emphasized. Programs are developed in accordance with the North Carolina Essential Standards. These include Arts Education, English Language Arts, and Social Studies. A complete list is available for each program according to grade level. Contact us to set up a program. Please Note: We have new school programs on Native Americans in western NC.

• For: Schools, grades 2-5
• Length: 2-4 Week Loan
• Description: Learn about Cherokee and other Native Americans through stories, images, games, and contemporary, historic, and pre-historic artifacts.
• Native American Trunk Packing List

• For: Schools, grades 2-5
• Length: 2-4 Week Loan
• Description: Learn about pioneer settlers hands-on artifacts, books, activities, music, and lesson plans.

Trunk includes:

• Mountain Heritage Day CD
• Historic Documents

15 fiction and non-fiction books

• A is for Appalachia!
• The Cabin Faced West
• Cabin on Trouble Creek
• George Washington's Breakfast
• Historic Buildings of the Smokies
• If you grew up with Abraham Lincoln
• Our Vanishing Landscape
• A Piece of the Smokies.
• The Quilt-Block History of Pioneer Days.
• 6 Cobblestones: Arts and Crafts of the Middle Atlantic Colonies, The Cherokee Indians, Genealogy: A personal History, Old-time Schools in America, Daniel Boone, and What is History

14 copies of Only the Names Remain

9 Work Reproduction artifacts

5 Play Reproduction artifacts

• For: Grades K-6 
• Length: 90 minutes 
• Description: Learn how "reading" a quilt can uncover the past. Students will hear quilt-related stories and create a paper quilt square. They will also be introduced to quilt design, technology, and use. 

• For: Schools, grades 2-8 
• Length: 1 hour 
• Description: Explores how our ancestors passed the time on the back porch or out in the yard. What stories did they tell, what games did they play, and what toys did they make? Try making some toys and playing with others. 
  Appalachian Pastimes Pre and Post visit brochure

• For: Schools, grades 2-8 
• Length: 1 hour 
• Description: An introduction to the rich textile history of the southern Appalachian region. Encompasses weaving and quilting with hands-on experiences engaging many senses. 

• For: Schools, grades K-6
• Length: 1 hour 
• Description: Learn about Cherokee and other Native Americans through stories, images, games, and artifacts.
• Native American Pre and Post visit brochure

• For: Schools, grades 2-12
• Length: 1 hour 
• Description: Agricultural traditions from native American to modern times. Includes large format photographs, artifacts, and hands-on experiences.  

• For: Schools, grades 2-8 
• Length: 1 hour 
• Description: An exploration of candles, lamps, and lanterns. Experience tallow, beeswax, oil, and electric forms of lighting. 
• New Light on Old Times Pre and Post visit brochure 

• For: Schools, grades 4-12
• Length: 1 hour
• Description: Hear about the experience of a Union or Confederate soldier who discusses equipment, tactics, and the homefront during the Civil War. Lots of hands on items to experience.

• Length: 55 min
• Description: In this program, students will discover that the creation of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park uprooted local communities in the 1930s. Through hands-on time-line and census activities, students will learn why the parks were created and the accompanying costs of their formation. The lesson will focus on historic Cataloochee Valley Township in Haywood County.
• Cataloochee Valley program outline

Programs are developed in accordance with North Carolina's Essential Standards for Social Studies, Arts Education, and English Language Arts. A list is available for each program according to your class's level. Programs take place at the MHC and utilize its Current Exhibits. 

• Programs range from 45 minutes to 2 hours.
• 1 adult chaperone required for every 15 students.
• Help us provide a great program by telling us what your class is studying, any special needs your group has, and what you would like emphasized.
• Contact us to set up a program or to work the Education Associate to customize a program for your class.

Length: 90 minutes 

Description: This introduction to the MHC includes an exploration of the permanent Discovering Appalachia exhibit. Students will also examine images and artifacts for clues to the past and participate in role-playing exercises.

Length: 90 minutes 

Description: Students investigate themes that confront all people: food, shelter, clothing, and health. By examining artifacts from Native Americans and European settlers, students learn the meaning of self-reliance and consider life before cars and electricity.

• Length: 1 hour 

  Description: Photographs and touchable artifacts are used to explore family life past and present.

• Length: 90 minutes 

  Description: Learn how "reading" a quilt can uncover the past. Students will hear quilt-related stories and create a paper quilt square. They will also be introduced to quilt design, technology, and use.

• Length: 1 hour
  Description: Learn about Cherokee and other Native Americans through stories, images, games, and artifacts. 

• Length: up to 90 minutes 

  Description: Take an interactive tour of the Center's latest exhibits. Touchable artifacts and a gallery scavenger hunt are included in the tour.