They're going to party like it's 1899.

Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage Center on Saturday is celebrating the restoration of several of its buildings with a blacksmith, a storyteller, sack races and other vestiges of yesteryear.

"We've done a lot of work, and we want to show it off," said Jim Perry, a board member for Autrey Mill in Johns Creek. "And we think it will be a lot of fun in an old-fashioned way."

In addition to the clang of the smithy and the dulcet tones of the tale-spinner, there will be quilters, a petting zoo, dulcimer players and spinners of wool.

For those with an appetite, there will be food available, and even better, a pie-eating contest.

No word on what kind of pie.

But the stars of the production will be the buildings.

An 1840s church from the Warsaw area of Johns Creek was moved to Autrey Mill and restored to look as it did years ago, thanks to a $269,000 grant from the state. During restoration, a contractor found that under Sheetrock were the original interior walls.

Churches in the rural South in the 1840s often served as a center of the community. Ministers of all denominations often rode circuits, making regular stops at churches scattered over a district. Residents would attend whatever church happened to have a minister.

Visitors also get a glimpse of an old-time dry-goods store.

The Green Country Store has been renovated, albeit with air conditioning and heating to preserve some of the items discovered inside. The building is finished, but the exhibits are still being catalogued with the help of a state archivist. On display will be quilts with newspaper-backing dating to 1929.

The farm museum exhibits have been upgraded, and the Summerour House, an example of a fine but not opulent turn-of-the-20th-century area home, is open.

The house has a deck added, and the kitchen has been redone.

The structures will have some taped oral history to discuss interesting facts about them or about how people used to live.

IF YOU GO

> What: Spring Celebration at Autrey Mill

> When: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday

> Where: Autrey Mill Nature Preserve and Heritage Center, 9770 Autrey Mill Road, Johns Creek

> Cost: Free; food will be available at a nominal price.

> Info: 678-366-3511; www.autreymill.org

 DALE E. DODSON / Staff
Map locates Autrey Mill Nature Preserve. Inset map shows area of detail relative to metro Atlanta and Fulton County.