The 48th Ketner's Mill Country Arts Fair opens Saturday, Oct. 3, at 658 Ketner Mill Lane in Whitwell. It is the first fair weekend since the grounds went through a three-month closure. In late May, the Ketner's Mill Foundation said it was ending public recreational access to the property. On Friday, Aug. 28, the gates reopened to everyday visitors with a written list of rules.
That order of events says something about the place. Twice in three years, the fair was the part of Ketner's Mill that held steady. The part that nearly ended was the ordinary weekday visit to the river. Since August, that kind of visit has come with stricter posted terms.
The Fair Held Both Times
The first scare came in March 2024. Sequatchie Valley Now reported that Frank McDonald Jr. was retiring, putting Ketner's Mill up for sale at an asking price of $2.5 million, and that there would be no fair that year. Three days later the same outlet ran a correction. McDonald said he was putting together a team to hold the fair that October.
The second came this summer. When public access closed, coverage at the time said the fair would still go on. It has gone on every fall since 1977, when the first fair marked the end of a three-year restoration of the mill. The mill was added to the National Register of Historic Places that same year. Dunlap Today's preview counts this year as the fair's 48th.
The fair is a separate, organized event. It runs under the Ketner's Mill Foundation, and the official contact page lists Dee Nash as event coordinator. It has set dates, a cash gate, and a team behind it. Everyday access had a short list of courtesies on the mill's website and the owner's permission.
What Closed in June Was the Habit
WTVC described the June decision as ending more than 150 years of recreational access. That access covered generations of visitors who came to fish, swim, and float the Sequatchie River. The property is privately owned, and those visits went on because the owners allowed them.
The reason given for the closure was legal exposure. The owners said attorneys had contacted them about injury claims from people's recreational visits. They cited liability, not a lawsuit against the mill. WTVC checked with Marion County court officials, who found no Ketner's Mill lawsuits filed in the year before. Owner Clint Carroll told the station he had owned the property for "the past two years." The exact purchase date and price have not been reported in the coverage available.
So a lawsuit didn't cause the closure. The risk the owner had been carrying under the old, informal arrangement did.
Five Rules Replace Three
The old terms are still posted on the mill's "The Mill" page. They welcome the community onto the grounds during daylight hours year-round and ask for three things: no alcohol or fires, no trash left behind, and an understanding that swimming in the Sequatchie River is dangerous and done at the swimmer's own risk. That page also still says the descendants of Alexander Ketner own the property, so it no longer reflects current ownership or policy.
The reopening announcement replaced those terms. "We know how much this special place means to our community, and we want people to continue being able to enjoy the property," the mill said.
As reported by WTVC on Aug. 26, the five rules are:
- Public access is allowed only from dawn until dusk.
- Visitors must take their trash with them.
- No glass containers are allowed.
- Visitors enter and use the property at their own risk.
- Visitors must stay off the dam and away from the area around it.
The fourth rule speaks most directly to the reason for the closure. The old page put the risk on swimmers, while the new rule puts it on anyone who enters the property. The fifth comes with the strongest wording in the announcement:
"Please do not climb, walk, fish, or play on or around the dam. The dam and surrounding area are extremely dangerous."
The structure at Ketner's Mill is a low-head dam. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers warns that this type of dam can create strong recirculating currents that trap people and boats. A petition calling for changes at the dam gathered hundreds of signatures. Walker Henley, a board member of the Tennessee River Gorge Trust, told WTVC in June: "The problem with a low head dam is that it doesn't look very dangerous at all."
The announcement leaves some things unsaid. It does not say whether swimming or fishing is allowed elsewhere on the grounds, away from the dam, and the reopening coverage does not mention a day-use fee. For anything beyond the five rules, ask the mill directly before a float trip, since the older website page is not the current policy.
Saturday and Sunday on the Grounds
The fair runs on its own schedule, separate from the dawn-to-dusk visiting hours. One detail catches people every year. Whitwell is on Central Time, but the fair posts its hours in Eastern Time because so many visitors drive in from Chattanooga. Local 3 converted the hours to local time.
| Saturday, Oct. 3 | Sunday, Oct. 4 | |
|---|---|---|
| Posted hours, Eastern | 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. | 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. |
| Local hours, Central | 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. | 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. |
| Admission | $8, cash only | $8, cash only |
| Children 8 and under | Free | Free |
Parking is free, and accessible parking is available. Bring cash for the gate, since that's the only payment it takes.
Marion County's Sept. 14 preview lists more than 150 selected artisans. Their work includes sculpture, painting, pottery, hand-woven baskets, metalwork, jewelry, woodworking, furniture, and folk art. More than 20 food vendors will be on the grounds. Other activities include wagon rides, canoeing on the Sequatchie River, the Marion County 4-H petting zoo, and bluegrass, country, and gospel music all weekend. The mill grinds fresh cornmeal during the fair, and blacksmiths and woodworkers demonstrate their trades.
The sorghum molasses demonstration is the one people tend to remember. Ernest Mazelin's family runs cane through the mill's mule-powered "squeezer," and the juice is then cooked down into molasses on site.
The fair also falls on the same ground the five rules cover. The canoes put in on the same river the rules govern, and the dam warning applies no matter what day it is.
A Site That Has Changed Hands Before
The mill's own history goes back to 1824, when David Ketner arrived in the Sequatchie Valley and ran an earlier mill near what became Ketner's Cove. His son Alexander Ketner bought the current site in 1868, and the family finished the brick mill building by 1882. Clyde Ketner, David's grandson, ground cornmeal every day until he died in 1992, and full-time milling ended that year.
In more than 200 years, the site has passed from the Ketner family to the McDonalds and now to Carroll. Each owner has kept the river open to the public on their own terms. The current terms are five rules, dawn to dusk, with the dam off-limits.
If you'd like to talk through what owning a piece of the Sequatchie Valley looks like, from river frontage to acreage around Whitwell and the rest of Marion County, Garrett Cox is glad to sit down after the fair weekend and walk through it with you. You can also find more on the community on the Whitwell neighborhood page. Let's Connect.
