North Carolina Traditions

Pottery tradition

The North Carolina pottery tradition goes back more than two centuries and has become known worldwide. The first potter known to have settled here was a German who arrived in Rowan County in 1755. Moravian potters followed and worked in the Winston-Salem area. Potters concentrated themselves in the relatively isolated Piedmont region of the state rather than the more heavily settled coast, because the coastal area clay was mixed with sand and organic matter not suitable for mass-production pottery. Also, coastal communities could acquire urban utensils more easily from Europe or New England. Inland, there was more need for pottery and less competition. Both the traditions of the past and the experimental, artistic styles of pottery coexist in today’s North Carolina pottery culture, and it continues to thrive.