Funk Heritage Center

06/19/2026

The Funk Heritage Center and Bennett History Museum will be closed today and tomorrow in observance of the Juneteenth national holiday.

06/18/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BCKyR5mSU/

Who would you be if you traveled to America’s colonial past? Caity Weaver asked last year. “If you have a large disposable income, an obsessive personali­ty, an idolatrous affection for protocol, or ideally all three, then you possess the trappings for a fine portrayal of a member of the King’s army,” Weaver writes. “If you want to be a reenactor but are laid-back, messy, or broke,” you might be better suited to portraying a “Patriot.” If you have a contrarian streak, you could portray a Loyalist. But if you choose to be a reenactor, you may end up crammed into a one-bathroom family lake house for the night with approximately 40 men in 18th-­century clothes. At least, that’s what happened to Weaver.

Revisit her story from The Atlantic’s “Unfinished Revolution” issue: https://theatln.tc/Yt4L5Gxk

📸: Scott Rossi

06/18/2026

Next Thursday, June 25 at 6 pm at the Woodstock library, Funk Heritage Center Director W. Jeff Bishop will explore the American Revolution through early ideas of creating utopia along the American frontier. Bishop will explore 18th century German immigrant Christian Gottlieb Priber's ideas as he lived among the Cherokees in the 1700s. Priber helped the Cherokees develop the first uniform system of weights and measures to defend themselves against predatory trading practices, and also developed the first Cherokee-to-English dictionary. In three separate issues of the weekly South Carolina Gazette in December, 1735, there were advertised "to be sold by Mr. Priber near Mr. Laurans the Sadler, ready made mens clothes, wigs, spaterdashes of fine holland, shoes, boots, guns, pistols, powder, a silver repeating watch, a sword with a silver gilt hilt, English seeds, beds, & a fine chest of drawers very reasonable for ready Money, he intending to stay but a few weeks in this Town." From his store of genteel possessions he retained only paper and ink and a trunk filled with books. Having divested himself thus of the trappings of civilization, armed only with the weapons of the philosopher, Priber set forth on his extraordinary mission to the Indians of the southern Appalachians. Trader Ludovick Grant, who scorned Priber's ideas, observed that "he proposed to them a new System or plan of Government, that all things should be in common amongst them, that even their Wives should be so and that the Children should be looked upon as the Children of the public and be taken care of as such & not by their natural parents, that they should move the chief seat of Government to a place nearer the French called Coosawattee, where in ancient times a Town had stood belonging to the Cherokees." Learn more at the Woodstock library!

06/18/2026

06/18/2026

We hope the Widener family had a good time visiting us today at the Bennett History Museum! They traveled all the way up from Sharpsburg, Georgia!

06/17/2026

We still have some slots open! Give us a call today!

06/17/2026

We had a great time learning about local historical figure Gus Coggins at HistoryCherokee last night. Dr. Jeff Dobson, member of the Reinhardt Board of Trustees, presented his findings about the whereabouts of Coggins, a prominent local businessman with a dubious reputation, during his quarter-century absence from Canton from 1926 to 1952. Dobson also addressed some of the longstanding questions about the 1915 Canton barn fire and Coggins' actions and his lifestyle after his bankruptcy in 1926. Reinhardt University was well represented, with VP Dr. Ken Wheeler, Dr. Walter May, Funk Heritage Center Director Jeff Bishop, FHC Director Emeritus Dr. Joe Kitchens, John Bennett, and others in attendance.

06/12/2026

We have a Trail of Tears Traveling Trunk available for teacher checkout here at the Funk, as well! Just inquire!

📚🍎 2nd Grade Teachers—Bring Georgia History to Life! 🍎📚

Chieftains Museum offers a FREE Traveling Trunk available for educators to check out and use in the classroom.

Designed to support Georgia’s 2nd Grade Social Studies Standards, this hands-on resource helps students explore the history and culture of the Cherokee and Muscogee (Creek) peoples through authentic artifacts, interactive activities, and engaging lessons. The trunk includes a teaching guide with lesson plans and additional resources to make learning both meaningful and memorable.

Give your students the opportunity to connect with history in a way that goes beyond the textbook—all at no cost to your classroom!

Contact us today to learn more about reserving the Traveling Trunk for your class.

06/12/2026