The Foxfire Fund: Appalachia Heritage

The term “foxfire” is a name commonly applied to several species of bioluminescent fungi that grow on rotting wood in damp forests. These fungi typically produce a dim blue-green glow that can be seen only in dark, starlit areas, away from any artificial lights or moonlight.

However, if you travel on the Southern Highroads Trail, you may see actual foxfire, but one may be talking about The Foxfire Fund. The Foxfire Fund is an educational and literary organization in Mountain City, Georgia. Less than 5 miles off Southern Highroads, up Black Rock Mountain, around a dirt road, and just when you think you’re lost.. you’re there!

Foxfire Fund produces magazines and books in order to educate and entertain people about the lives and culture of the Appalachia people. They’re not just simple “hillbillies”. It is a vast and rich culture of self-sustaining folks who have a wealth of knowledge. And this knowledge was bound together in a magazine beginning in the late 1960s, with the first production of their book in 1972.

Foxfire has produced many books since that time and has turned it into a learning experience for those in Rabun County, GA. Their learning technique has actually come into demand from other people wishing to expand on their own culture.

Due to the popularity and profitability of the Foxfire books, the Foxfire Fund (and the help of their students) were able to get land on Black Rock Mountain and clear it out to make way for the Foxfire Museum and Heritage Center. The students built the buildings you see here. Yes. Students. High school students built all of that. That’s how passionate they feel about the organization they belong to.

A little blog post like this does not give Foxfire enough credit to them though. To really experience it, you have to visit their museum. For more information about them, visit their website: The Foxfire Fund. On our trip we were lucky to coordinate it on the Living History Days, which will be in another post. Look for that soon!