Jugtown Pottery was founded in 1921 by Jacques and Juliana Busbee, artists from

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

, who in 1917 discovered an orange pie dish and traced it back to Moore County. There, they found a local tradition of utilitarian pottery in orange,

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids by coating it with a ce ...

, and salt glazes. The Busbees saw an opportunity to help save a dying craft, and in 1918 they set up the village store in

Greenwich Village Greenwich Village ( , , ) is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, in order to sell the pottery. Potters they worked with over the years included J. H. Owen, Charlie Teague, and Ben Owen. Jacques died in 1947. In 1960, John Mare bought Jugtown Pottery and hired Vernon Owens as the Jugtown thrower. After the sudden deaths of Mare and Juliana in 1962, Owens leased the business and kept it going for six years, until it was sold to Country Roads, Inc., a nonprofit organization working toward the preservation of hand crafts. Under the direction of Country Roads, Nancy Sweezy served as director and potter. Sweezy changed the earthenware glazes to fritted lead glazes, then developed a new line of high temperature glazes in order to make them lead-free. She also developed a completely different line of complex colors, including ''Blueridge Blue'', ''Cinnamon'', a different ''Tobacco Spit'', ''Mustard'' and ''Dogwood White''. Sweezy also set up an apprenticeship program that served over thirty pottery students from 1969 through 1980. In 1983 Country Roads moved on to another project, and Vernon Owens bought Jugtown. He has run it with his wife Pam Owens since then. Pam and Vernon opened the Jugtown Museum in 1988. Jugtown Pottery was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1999. The listing includes the log sales room, log turning room with attached

pugmill A pugmill or pug mill is a machine in which clay or other materials are mixed into a plastic state or a similar machine for the trituration of ore. Industrial applications are found in pottery, bricks, cement and some parts of the concrete and asp ...

, frame glaze room, and two kilns beneath a shelter, all built about 1921, and the house added to the complex about 1924. Jugtown Pottery is located near the Pottery Road on

North Carolina Highway 705 North Carolina Highway 705 (NC 705) is a primary state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The route is marked as the Pottery Highway or Pottery Road and as a North Carolina Scenic Byway due to the large number of potters in and s ...

, an area known for many potteries.

References

External links

Jugtown Pottery website
American pottery Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Industrial buildings completed in 1921 Buildings and structures in Moore County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Moore County, North Carolina Tourist attractions in Moore County, North Carolina {{MooreCountyNC-NRHP-stub