A Centuries Old Tradition
Located approximately 40 miles south of Greensboro, North Carolina, on Highway 220 South (also Interstate 73/74), Seagrove is a small community in Randolph County, in the center of Piedmont North Carolina. The Seagrove pottery community includes portions of Randolph, Moore, Montgomery, Chatham and Lee counties. It is nestled here that a rich tradition began more than 200 years ago.
Sometime during the 18th century, long before the American Revolution, a potter whose name is lost in history placed a ball of clay on a homemade kick wheel and turned the first piece of North Carolina traditional pottery. It was a functional piece of ware, a plate for a family table, or a bowl or pickle jar or jug. The piece was likely fired in a ground hog kiln of the potter's making and glazed with a transparent glaze of the time. The tradition continues to this date in the Seagrove area, in some cases by potters who represent the eighth and ninth generations of potter families in North Carolina.
In the early years, Seagrove potters crafted almost solely utilitarian glazed earthenware of stoneware -- churns, milk crocks, jars for storing food, whiskey jugs and kitchenware. By the early 20th century, North Carolina's stills were closed and there was little need for whiskey jugs. As glass containers became more common, there was little need for stoneware milk and food containers.
Some potteries closed in the early 1900s, but a revival of the industry began about 1920 when the potters began creating art pottery to sell to Yankee visitors from the resort area of Pinehurst, North Carolina, located about 30 miles north of Seagrove. The tourists had no need for milk crocks and jugs, but they did want vases and pitchers and other decorative ware. They brought pictures of those they liked and the potters began copying some designs but always adding their own personal twist.
Also, in 1917, Jacques and Juliana Busbee established Jugtown Pottery to preserve the folk pottery of the area. There for many years Ben Owen re-created traditional salt-glazed stoneware and the orange earthenware. In 1924, North State Pottery, another important revivalist pottery, was opened at Sanford, North Carolina, with potters Jonie Owen and Walter N. Owen. There are many other examples of old pottery families such as Cole and Owens who are still operating shops today along with names like Teague, Luck, Chriscoe, King, Albright and many others.
The tens of thousands of visitors who come to the Seagrove area each year to see, enjoy and buy pottery still strong and thriving along with more recent potters who are now contributing to the tradition. Visitors themselves are a part of the tradition. While 18th and 19th century pottery was sold from covered wagons traveling slowly throughout the state, the annual trek to Seagrove to purchase pottery for family use and gifts has been a ritual for thousands of families since the early 1900s. Generations of new brides have started their family life with place settings of Seagrove area pottery, as did their mothers and grandmothers before them. The tradition continues and you are a part of it.
Although Seagrove is a small central North Carolina community, the Seagrove name identifies a larger pottery area including portions of Randolph, Moore, Montgomery and Lee counties. This area has been official recognized as the official birth place of North Carolina traditional pottery. It is in this area that pottery making has continued uninterrupted over the past two centuries and it is this area that is today home to ninety plus potters who continue the tradition.