In the hills of northwestern North Carolina during the days of Tom Dooley, the boiling of sorghum molasses was a familiar autumn sight. Smoke drifted low through the valleys as farmers fed split oak into long brick furnaces beneath black iron kettles, the sweet smell of cane and sorghum juice thick in the cool mountain air. Mule-powered presses creaked steadily while neighbors gathered to skim foam from the bubbling syrup with wooden paddles and tin dippers. Children lingered nearby for warm sorghum poured over biscuits, while men traded war news and talk of hardship in the uneasy years after the American Civil War. In places like the foothills around present-day North Wilkesboro, these syrup boilings were as much community gatherings as farm work, carrying on by lantern light long after sunset beneath the Blue Ridge mountains.

Join us in the foothills of North Carolina for an unforgettable old-fashioned Molassy Boil celebration featuring live bluegrass music, beer and wine, chopped BBQ chicken and all the fixins’, sweet molasses treats, yard games, and mountain fellowship under the evening sky. Enjoy character vignettes, meet-and-greet photo opportunities with costumed characters, old-time photos, and family fun with bubbles, popsicles, and water guns available for purchase. Inspired by the community gatherings of old Appalachian harvest seasons, this family-friendly evening is a chance to slow down, share good food, laugh with neighbors, and step back into the spirit of the mountain traditions that once brought folks together long after the sun went down.