The Foxfire Story
From a 1966 English class to a bestselling book series and a village of historic log buildings near Helen.
The short answer
How it started
According to the New Georgia Encyclopedia, English teacher Eliot Wigginton found many of his students at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School "hostile, bored and rambunctious," and suggested a school magazine as a way to spark their interest. Ideas included collecting folklore from local residents, partly inspired by conversations with guests at the nearby Hambidge Center for Creative Arts and Sciences. The students chose the name Foxfire for the blue-green glow on decaying logs. The Encyclopedia says that comes from lichens; Foxfire itself and Education Week say fungus.
None of them had experience in oral history, documentary work or magazine production, so everyone learned as they went. The project grew into books, records, videotapes, a museum, a website, a Hollywood movie and an ongoing magazine, and it is still active under the Foxfire Fund. The encyclopedia notes that Wigginton pleaded guilty to child molestation charges in 1992, resigned from teaching and is no longer associated with Foxfire; the project itself has continued with students and staff.
Timeline
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| Fall 1966 | Teacher Eliot Wigginton and his students at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School begin interviewing older residents, with the idea of a student magazine. |
| March 1967 | The first issue of Foxfire is published. The New Georgia Encyclopedia says an interview with the local sheriff, about a 1936 bank robbery, made it an instant success. |
| 1972 | Doubleday publishes The Foxfire Book, an anthology of magazine articles that becomes a national bestseller. Foxfire 2 follows the next year. |
| 1974 | Students use book royalties to buy a tract of land on Black Rock Mountain. Historic buildings are relocated to it, and the museum is born. |
| 1977 | The Foxfire program moves to the new Rabun County High School in Clayton. Foxfire also begins issuing recordings of local musicians, starting with The North Georgia Mountains. |
| 1982 | A play based on the Foxfire books, by Hume Cronyn and Susan Cooper, opens on Broadway. |
The books
Foxfire published a 12-volume book series preserving Appalachian skills, stories and lifeways, along with the ongoing student magazine and multimedia content. The encyclopedia lists topics the magazine has covered, including preserving and cooking food, folklore, gardening, farming, beekeeping, ghost stories, tall tales, weaving, granny women (midwives), burial customs and music. The Foxfire teaching model spread widely: the encyclopedia cites an estimate that it has influenced classrooms in 47 states and several other countries.
The village today
The Foxfire Village Museum, established in 1974 on Black Rock Mountain in Mountain City, now has over 20 historic log buildings with artifacts from Appalachian life between 1820 and 1940. According to Foxfire's history page, students labored for years restoring the structures and creating the village. It offers heritage skill classes, craft demonstrators and an archive of nearly 60 years of oral history. Our Foxfire Museum visitor guide has hours, prices and this month's classes. It's about 35 miles and an hour from downtown Helen, next to Black Rock Mountain State Park.
Related: Appalachian music heritage, pottery and crafts and Nacoochee Valley history.
Reading the books
Foxfire's 12-volume series (The Foxfire Book, then Foxfire 2 through Foxfire 12) is $27.95 per volume in the Foxfire online store. The student magazine is still published, and Foxfire students also produce videos and podcasts as part of its educational programs. If you want a taste before you buy, the first magazine issue is available as a PDF download from the same page.
The 1972 book was assembled from magazine articles, which is why the series reads like a stack of interviews: short, specific and in the voices of the people who did the work.
Start with
The Foxfire Book (Volume 1), the 1972 anthology that began the series.
Then see it in person
The Foxfire Village Museum in Mountain City, about 35 miles and an hour from downtown Helen, has the log buildings, a working blacksmith shop and craft demonstrators.
Where the name comes from
Foxfire is the blue-green glow of bioluminescent fungus on decaying logs, which the first students chose as the magazine's name. The bestseller named after a fungus tells the longer, stranger version.
Pair it with
Black Rock Mountain State Park is next door to the museum, and Appalachian music heritage covers the other side of mountain culture.
Quick questions
Where did the name Foxfire come from?
Students at Rabun Gap-Nacoochee School chose it for the blue-green glow of bioluminescent fungus on decaying logs. The New Georgia Encyclopedia says lichens; Foxfire itself and Education Week say fungus.
When did Foxfire start?
In fall 1966, when teacher Eliot Wigginton and his students began interviewing older neighbors. The first issue of the magazine came out in March 1967.
How many Foxfire books are there?
Twelve volumes: The Foxfire Book, then Foxfire 2 through Foxfire 12. Foxfire sells them on its website at $27.95 each.
Where can I see the Foxfire village?
The Foxfire Village Museum is at 98 Foxfire Lane in Mountain City, next to Black Rock Mountain State Park. See our visitor guide for hours and admission.
Related Imagery from Around Helen
