BY HANNAH SHARPE

Staff Writer

For many visitors, Moore County signifies golf courses and horses, but even those who have called the Sandhills home for years often forget about the county's northwestern tradition that has been around longer than any putter boy or horse farm.

Pottery, once a necessity for utilitarian purposes, has become an integral symbol of North Carolina folk art and a supplement to the state's tourism industry, drawing thousands of visitors down N.C. 705 - the path to Moore County's turners and burners - every year.

More than 100 workshops lie along the 25-mile stretch of country road better known as the pottery highway.

Though Seagrove is considered the official pottery capital, the birthplace of the N.C. pottery industry lies on Busbee Road, below the Moore-Randolph County line.

Jacques and Juliana Busbee founded Jugtown Pottery in 1921. With business savvy and an eye for aesthetics, the Busbees kept the industry alive despite its utilitarian decline during the advent of mason jars and mass-produced ceramics by selling pieces at Juliana's New York City tearoom.

Clay is in the blood of a lot of the area's residents. Many of them can trace heritages of pottery back to early settlers who utilized the area's unique deposits to make pieces for themselves and their neighbors.

Sid Luck, of Luck's Ware Pottery, carries on the tradition of making the jugs and churns of his great-great-grandfather, William Luck. When he was 12 years old, Luck began working for J.B. Cole Pottery, one of the original potteries of Seagrove.

"I made so many ashtrays," he laughs, remembering the early days of his craft. "I've never considered myself an artist."

Luck has seen the area change in several ways over the years. The roads are busier, and more pottery studios line the way, offering a wider variety of options far beyond the traditional pieces that Luck grew up learning to turn.

Though times have changed and the area has evolved, Luck loves seeing how the craft thrives with so much diversity.

"I'm most supportive and excited about the new folks coming in," he says

Many of the area's potters come from generations of turners and burners, but some potters have located to the region hoping to adopt the area's traditions and also offer something new to the market.

Will McCanless is one of these potters. He sees his craft as the ultimate possibility for innovation and new challenges.

Pieces of "Seagrove Red," crystalline glaze and hand-painted stoneware, sit on display among other styles in McCanless' gallery located just above Union Grove Church Road.

As a kid, he watched his parents throw pots after they opened Dover Pottery in 1983.

Though pottery is a part of his family, McCanless sees a line of versatility in his lineage, not just tradition.

"Innovation, evolution and curiosity - all these things are part of my family tradition," he says.

His work reflects years of traveling and studying techniques used by potters from all over the world.

In his studies, McCanless found himself often marveling at the advancements in glaze made by generations of potters. So many spent their entire lifetimes trying to get the combination of firing and glazing just right, while some modern potters study chemistry to find the ideal glaze.

"Some of the greatest glazes in the world are serendipitous," he says. "[The potters] would intuitively come to the same conclusions chemically. There's some really brilliant people in the country."

Many agree that these potters are brilliant, but the potters are also humble about the traditions they've held onto for generations. They love sharing their heritage with visitors.

Even if you do find yourself in Moore County seeking its more obvious amenities, take a day to go explore the path to one of North Carolina's oldest heritages. There, you'll find a thriving link to the past and a promising future in the N.C. pottery industry.

Hannah Sharpe can be reached at (910) 693-2485.