If your name is Meaders, you are likely to get your hands dirty in North Georgia clay and be a potter all your life. There are six Meaders folk pottery studios around Cleveland’s Mossy Creek today turning and firing their wares.
Four generations ago there was only one Meaders studio, making utilitarian items need in every home -- butter churns, pickling urns, canning containers, milk pitchers and other essentials for household use. Today, with glass and plastic so available in the home, pottery is now considered folk art. One of the photos shows many pottery items used in 19th century kitchens in this mountain country when they still cooked in a fireplace.
The Meaders family used a mule to mix the clay they needed. The mule walked around a turnstile which was made of log poles and pieces to make up a batch of the right clay ingredients, including yeast, which was considered necessary for turning a good pot.
They made their own glazes -- a messy liquid into which pottery was dipped before the final firing. There was an alkali glaze made from wood ashes. There was a tobacco glaze made from chaws. We’ve seen examples of these at the Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia today.
The other photo shows a large urn finished with an “ash” glaze. Behind it is a model of a firing furnace in which they show how it was done in the old days.
The website is fascinating. Check it out: http://www.folkpotterymuseum.com
We watched a movie on how they turned and fired today. We thought we could do this. Then one of the Meaders brothers from yesteryear reminded us, “I reckon it would take 15 years to get the hang of it.”
Other families who brought folk pottery into the modern era were the Hewells and Crockers. Pottery collectors seem to have found a bonanza in these parts.
The Folk Pottery Museum was opened in the fall of 2007. It’s located in the Sautee-Nacoochie Historic District near Helen GA. Sautee(racoon) and Nacoochie(bear) are Cherokee words.
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