The Brasstown Possum Drop and Clay's Corner

Driving into Brasstown, NC last weekend, this was what we saw:

Possum Network? Wait, something was beginning too surface in my memory. Something about possums...

and something about Clay's Corner...

While we were looking at the Model T, Mack told us his father was the Clay of Clay's Corner, and to be sure to stop in and say hello.  So we did just that. Clay Logan came out to meet us, and invited us into his store.

Possums were everywhere! On the walls, in photos, on t-shirts...and in this back room where there is a weekly music jam on Friday nights. We missed that, sadly. But notice that sign board on the left: "Possum Drop Sponsors." 

Yes, this is the home of the annual New Year's Eve Possum Drop! According to the website, "If New York can drop a "Ball", Georgia can drop a "Peach", then we can lower the Opossum."

I will haste to say that the possum is caught and kept in a cage and fed well until the event. He is lowered in the cage, and let back into wild afterward. You can read more about the event here.

We spent a little time talking with Clay and enjoying his eclectic store. You can find pretty much anything at Clay's Corner, from milk and bread to gasoline, candy, t-shirts (this one glows in the dark), bottled Possum Water and canned possum.

My Brasstown souvenirs

 And a warning to all:

I don't know if I will ever be there to witness the Possum Drop but I can now say I have visited the place where it happens. It's about as small as a place can get, I have to admit, but once a year Brasstown polishes itself up for for this event, and thousands come to watch and enjoy the bands, singing, and contests. 

After it's over, the possum will waddle off into the night, his hour of glory over and his mind full of wonder at the silly antics these humans will get themselves up to, all in the name of fun.

And Brasstown will return to a sleepy junction of two roads and to its usual place of fame as the home of the John C. Campbell Folk School.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.