View or - Sautee Nacoochee Center

(Face jug by Lanier Meaders, 1969)
K
TERY M
US
OR
TH
G
N
IA
OF
Interact with exhibits
that trace 200 years of
our region's folk pottery history. Learn how
the folk pottery tradition has evolved and is
carried on by contemporary folk potters.
T
PO
M
EU
The Folk Pottery Museum
of Northeast Georgia is
one of just a handful of
museums in the world
to focus exclusively on
folk pottery.
FOL
A Sense of Place
EAST
O
GE
R
Learn the stories of men and women who
shaped the earth and water of this region
into once essential household items now
valued and collected as distinctive folk art.
Architect Bob Cain and exhibit designer Dale
Brubaker incorporate the history and setting of
northeast Georgia folk pottery in the building
design, arrangement of exhibits, and presentation
of the permanent pottery collection. Glass walls,
steeply sloping roof lines, shade porches and
native Southern Yellow Pine give the airy feeling
of an open pottery shed.
Well known for its tradition of folk pottery,
northeast Georgia is home to such noted
potter families as Meaders, Hewell, Dorsey
and Ferguson.
OPERATING HOURS
Mon–Sat 10 am–5 pm, Sun 1 pm–5 pm
Check opening on major holidays
The Museum is part of the Sautee Nacoochee Center,
located at 283 Georgia Highway 255 N. Also at the
Center: a local history museum showcasing Cherokee
heritage, gold strikes, timber and railroads; a gallery
featuring work of local artists, monthly concerts, a
community story performance, and the June-July
SummerFest.
MUSEUM ADMISSION
$4 Adults, $2 Children and Seniors
706-878-3300
www.folkpotterymuseum.com
(Syrup jug by Cleater Meaders, Sr., circa 1920s)
n the Museum’s living history area,
visitors see how clay was dug, shaped on
a treadle wheel, and finished with a locally
made glaze. A 9-minute video shows the
process of pottery making by the Meaders
family of White County.
Holcomb Pottery, Gillsville, 1935
Clay diggings
near Gillsville,
1935.
isitors learn the labor-intensive and hazardous
method necessary to fire the pottery in a kiln.
Several dioramas show how pottery was used in
everyday life from the mid-1800s through the mid1900s. Stoneware was used for preserving and storing
food and liquids until refrigeration and new products
caused a decline in demand for utilitarian pottery.
Cheever Meaders, late 1940s.
Photos of Museum interior and exterior
by Rob Karosis. Historical photos
courtesy of the University of Georgia
Press. Clay diggings near Gillsville
and Holcomb Pottery, Gillsville, 1935,
courtesy of the Georgia Geologic
Survey. Cheever Meaders, late 1940s,
photo by Guy Hayes, courtesy of the
Atlanta Journal. Meaders Pottery,
ca. 1910, courtesy of Mrs. Cheever
Meaders and Lanier Meaders. Lanier
Meaders, 1968, photo by Kenneth
Rogers, courtesy of the Atlanta Journal
and Constitution Magazine.
Meaders Pottery, ca. 1910
he Meaders family and other folk pottery
clans changed their operations beginning in
the 1920s to produce decorative and garden
ware with traditional folk pottery methods,
opening new markets of collectors
and individuals seeking unique
home décor and garden style.
ace jugs and the varying
approaches to creating them
have become internationally
recognized as distinctive features of
northeast Georgia folk pottery.
Lanier Meaders, 1968
isitors who become interested in folk
pottery can select pieces in our shop or
visit more than two dozen contemporary
folk potters, using a brochure map to
guide them along the Folk Potters Trail
of Northeast Georgia.
OLD
441
197
129
180
��������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������
����������������������������������������������������
��������������������������������������������������������������
�����������������������������������������������������������������������������
������������������������������������������������������������������������
of Northeast Georgia
441
Cleveland-Mossy Creek
23
Folk Potters
255
ALT
17
75
ALT
60
129
19
’s Cove R
Jenny
d
A
i
Leatherford Rd
Hwy
75
284
Hollywood
17
115
Lothridge Rd
Po
st
Rd
115
52
255
255
Cleveland
McAfee Rd
Tesnatee Gap
Valley Rd
Dahlonega
384
75
129
D
��������������
��������������������������������
������������
Clarkesville
OLD
441
115
B
C
254
105
Westmoreland Rd
E
Skitts M ountain Rd
Falls
Batesville
Folk Pottery
Museum
255
Helen
Suches
Lakemont
Trail
356
75
i
23
FOLK POTTERS
Tallulah
More than a Welcome . . .
384
365 441
�����������������
������������������������������������
����������������������
�������������������������������
������������
�����������������
����������������������������������
197
������������������
�������������������������
�������������
�����������������
�������������������������������
17
ALT
17
13
123
Toccoa
17
328