About Rendezvous
The Longest Running Primitive Skills Gathering East of the Mississippi
Earthskills Rendezvous is an ancestral skills gathering that happens twice a year in the Southeastern United States. The gathering is a week-long educational camping event where participants come to learn ancient skills, connect with nature, and experience a more community-oriented atmosphere. Join us!
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Our focus is top quality instruction in dozens of ancestral and heritage primitive skills such as matchless fire making, foraging for wild edible and medicinal plants, stone tool creation and use, basket making, and wood working just to name a few. After a full day of hands on instruction, evening programs give you the opportunity to join in the revival of the great oral tradition of storytelling around the council fire, or the option to pull up a chair in any of the many camps where homegrown and traditional Appalachian music is played, or the opportunity to answer the call of the drum and dance around the fire under a star filled sky. Striving for cooperation, generosity of spirit, tolerance and harmonious relationships, we welcome the skills, art, music and culture of all human ethnicities.
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Earthskills Rendezvous, Inc. is a 501c3 non-profit organization. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
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Event CANCELED due to extensive storm damage in Western North Carolina where many of our instructors, staff, worktraders, and participants live.
Falling Leaves Rendezvous
October 14-20, 2024
2025 Dates
April 14-20, 2025
October 6-12, 2025
Various Roles to Hold
Get Involved
Our gathering is run by community members for community members. It's a labor of love. What we have is what we create together. There are many ways to get involved at Rendezvous. From coming as a participant, to worktrading, teaching, working as a staff member, volunteering as part of the leadership council, and more!
Why Join Us?
Skills
Learn dozens of survival skills and primitive technologies from world-class instructors.
Culture
Experience how we do things differently, whether through a visit to our Ancestor Fire or attending our board meeting.
Celebration
Join in a drum circle or fireside dancing session to move your body and celebrate life!
Community
Experience village life for a week, where meals, classes, and evening activities weave together to connect folks of many different ages and walks of life.
Craft
Practice heritage arts and crafts with simple, sustainably sourced materials.
Connection
Unplug from the rat race and find that sense of connection to land and community that you've been longing for.