Foods Made in N.C. Often Continue Family Traditions

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.] 

Have you ever wandered through a festival that showcases the best flavors and tastes of North Carolina? Imagine attending an event that highlights the best of N.C. agriculture and celebrates specialty foods made in our state.

Muscadine smoothies are on display
at the Got to Be NC Festival.

The three-day, family-friendly Got to Be NC Festival held each May at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh draws attention to food creations of long-standing as well newly established producers. More than 75,000 people from across the state typically attend this event.


Continue reading at the NCFood blog ...

Working with Clay and Appreciating Pottery Traditions

Special Note: The "behind the scenes pottery crawl" to benefit the Northern Moore Resource Center will be held in 2014 on Saturday, May 10, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For specific details about this year's event, including tickets, click here. Tickets can be obtained on the day of the crawl in Robbins, NC, at the Resource Center or in advance from Country Bookstore in Southern Pines or Heavenly Pines Fine Jewelry and Gifts in Pinehurst.



Pottery has a rich tradition in the American South where extensive clay deposits, used centuries ago by Native Americans in making functional and ceremonial pots, gave colonial setters the material to create their pottery. Although the functional use of pottery declined, many potters continued their craft and passed it on to succeeding generations until today when the distinctive features of folk pottery are appreciated even more for their artistic value. The growing interest in traditional arts and crafts has brought new attention to the pottery industry where in North Carolina alone more than 2,000 potters are active.

When a “pottery crawl” was held in the Seagrove, NC, area, I got to immerse myself in the largest concentration of working potters in the United States. Although Seagrove is only one of several areas in the state that feature folk potters, it has been designated as the birthplace of N.C. traditional pottery and serves as the home of the N.C. Pottery Center. So many potteries are located along N.C. Highway 705 and its side roads that the state has designed this thoroughfare that bisects Seagrove as “N.C. Pottery Highway.”

The event was more than a visit to pottery art galleries to admire their creations (although they were for sale and 15% of all sales were donated to the nonprofit that sponsored the crawl). The visits were particularly valuable to see where and how the art is created – and to observe demonstrations from shaping at the wheel, to glazing, and to firing techniques.

In his studio, Ben Owen III demonstrates how clay
is shaped at a wheel.

When I visited several shops, I saw a rich variety of pottery styles, colors, shapes and sizes that preserves a local pottery tradition that dates to the 1700s. European settlers with pottery-making traditions were attracted to the Seagrove area because the local clay was so plentiful. They soon began making jugs, crocks, pitchers, dishes and other utilitarian items for daily household use. Although these items are still made by today’s potters, their work also includes contemporary pieces that are truly decorative.

For me, the event was also my first opportunity to make “pottery” – a very modest attempt to create a very amateurish-looking small bowl. At Seagrove Stoneware, housed in the original Seagrove General Store, several wheels had been set up for anyone who wanted to try turning a pot. I couldn’t resist the opportunity.

Alexa Modderno of Seagrove Stoneware
starts by demonstrating the proper technique.

After I had dug my fingers into the wet clay, I could share in an appreciation for the art and skill that pottery-making requires as well as a fascination for shaping earth to create an object that connects to the lives of earlier generations.

My tutor watches as I start to
shape a block of wet clay.

Then she realizes that I need a
little more guidance.



My finished project (after it was
glazed by the real professional)

“Turning” clay was a novel experience. I was able to use foot power without too much difficulty to spin the wheel at a constant speed. However, I was surprised at the effort I needed to shape the clay as the wheel turned. I needed to apply more pressure with my hands than I had anticipated, although I was reasonably satisfied with the simple symmetrical shape that I produced.

Being able to shape clay at a Seagrove studio connected me to the community that includes several potters who have family ties to the early English and German immigrants. Some families claim eighth- and ninth-generation potters. For example, the ancestors of Ben Owen III came from England in the late 1700s and made storage jars and other utilitarian wares for other local settlers. In addition, Sid Luck of Luck’s Ware is a fifth generation potter. These families created a network of local potters that has attracted newcomers to join the growing local assortment of almost 100 pottery workshops and studios.

Part of the collection of tools used by his ancestors
on display in the museum of Ben Owen III

The crawl, organized by the Northern Moore Family Resource Center, is held on the Saturday of Mothers’ Day weekend as a fundraiser to conduct its programs. This nonprofit organization serves an area where the extensive loss of manufacturing jobs over several decades has resulted in many children living in poverty. The center provides educational and recreational programs for children living in poverty, assists residents who need to learn English as a second language, and helps low-income families to purchase homes.

Working with clay in the Seagrove area gave me a tangible connection to the rich pottery tradition in the South and particularly North Carolina. Visiting workshops during an event sponsored by the Northern Moore Family Resource Center helped to not only benefit this community service organization but also to acknowledge the role that this traditional craft plays in our culture.

Grits & Groceries: At the Crossroads with a Rooster (and Pig's Tail)

Sometimes the best home cooking is at the crossroads of nowhere in the most remote area of a county, and sometimes a well-chosen name may give the best clue that the food is authentic down home cookin’. At Saylors Crossroads (the intersection of S.C. highways 284 and 185), Grits & Groceries near Belton, S.C., has become a destination for food-inspired travelers.

Belton, founded by families of Irish descent and chartered in 1855, advertises itself as a community of “rolling hills, small ponds, and lakes.” I can attest to the scenery and remoteness because on my trip there from nearby Greenville (only 22 miles to the northeast) my GPS device lost its signal and I roamed more than 45 minutes out of the way.

In eastern Anderson County, Belton boasts a population of fewer than 5,000. However, Grits & Groceries has a clientele that clearly exceeds the local population because its owners serve excellent traditional Southern food. Heidi and Joe Trull (whom I’d met a few years earlier on a field trip conducted by Southern Foodways Alliance) operate the establishment in an old country store that once was also a post office and radio station. At Grits and Groceries, they combine Cajun, Creole, and Southern cooking traditions that feature locally grown organic produce and dairy products. In addition, Heidi and Joe’s own extensive garden provides seasonal vegetables for the menu.

Both Heidi and Joe have more than simple Southern cooking roots. After circuitous career paths through kitchens in the Carolinas and other parts of the South, both were lured to New Orleans where they eventually joined Emeril Lagasse’s Nola restaurant in the French Quarter. Joe, in fact, was Emeril’s pastry chef for ten years; Heidi had even owned and operated her own restaurant, Elizabeth’s, before joining Nola.

Before I arrived at Saylors Crossroads, I thought I would order Carolina shrimp gravy and grits ($10.00) but instead was immediately attracted by the pimento cheese sandwich ($5.50) at a neighboring table and ordered one for myself; it is true regional tradition. My wife chose French toast stuffed with cream cheese and fresh strawberries ($8.00) — the best French toast that either of us has tasted. In addition, we also shared an order of praline bacon ($4.00), an excellent treat that provided an appealing contrast to our primary choices. However, most memorable was a plate of pig’s tail (not routinely on the menu) that we shared with a trio also attending the Potlikker Film Festival, which Southern Foodways Alliance conducts around the South (that weekend Greenville was the venue). Although we wanted to try one of Joe’s special homemade desserts (pies and cakes), we couldn't eat more so we compensated by taking home a copy of Heidi and Joe’s cookbook.

With a rooster on the corner at Saylors Crossroads, Grits & Groceries, which offers heaping servings of “real food, done real good” (Heidi’s slogan also still used by Elizabeth’s), is hard to miss (when you’re on the right road). If you do head that way, arrive at least before 2 p.m., when they close — and before you travel, check out the directions on their website that might cut 45 minutes out of your driving time.

Folk Art: Expressing Southern Culture

Have you seen a sculpture made out of discarded metal pieces or an animal carved from log pieces with a chainsaw and wondered who created it? The answer is probably a folk artist who may have never intended for it to be considered art. Folk art, which has a rich tradition in the American South, is art by the common people of a region that reflects the lives and expresses their hopes and dreams.

Functional and Decorative Art

Unlike fine art that is purely aesthetic and created by professional artists, folk art is typically functional and decorative and is produced by laborers and craftspeople. As such, cloth, cardboard, wood, paper, clay, and metal are commonly used, and some media are substituted for others when they are not immediately available.

Folk artists may spend their lives doing something else, although several learn skills through apprenticeships. Many are self-taught and develop their work in isolation or in small communities. The creations represent art forms of ethnic, religious, and other community groups who identify with each other and share traditions. For example, the Southern Highland Craft Guild, chartered in 1930, represents about 1,000 craftspeople in nine southeastern U.S. states.

The practical craftsmanship and decorative talent are quite apparent when examining quilts, pottery, and carved figures. However, folk art also includes expressive, unconventional, and nonconforming works by artists who draw on their cultures and experiences to create objects as whimsical as chainsaw animals and hubcap creations.

Folk art on display at the Fearrington Folk Art Show

A recent trend is the growing interest in folk arts by African Americans such as decorated furniture, architectural pieces, and utilitarian objects. When the High Museum in Atlanta held an exhibition of folk art, pieces by African-Americans (some enslaved before Emancipation) included a snake quilt, a decorated dresser cabinet (made from the recycled wood of fruit crates and cigar boxes), and a storage pottery jar engraved with a poem.

With Sam "The Dot Man" McMillan of Winston-Salem, NC,
who creates decorated furniture, quilts, clothing and
pottery as well as paintings

Folk Art in the South

The South is celebrated for its folk art shows, festivals, galleries, parades, and tours. Even the Folk Art Society of America, which focuses on folk art worldwide, has Southern roots and is still based in Richmond, Va.

• The world’s largest folk art show and sale is in the South. Folk Fest is held each August in Atlanta, features more than 100 galleries and dealers, and attracts more than 12,000 guests. “Self-taught art is the most important visual culture America has ever produced,” according to Steve Slotin, who is the Folk Fest promoter.
• A show that demonstrates the extensive variety of media that folk artists use is the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, which offers works of clay, fiber, glass, leather, metal, mixed media, natural materials, paper, wood and jewelry by more than 200 craftspeople. Sponsored by the Southern Highland Guild, the fair is held four days each July and October in Asheville, N.C.
• The major festival for folk art is in Alabama. Known as the Kentuck Festival of the Arts, it is held annually in October and includes demonstrations of traditional skills such as blacksmithing and quilting and the works of more than 250 artists.
• Major galleries, all in the South, that focus on folk art include Funky Chicken Art Project (housed in an old chicken house); in North Georgia; Red Piano Too Gallery (located in the first S.C. store to pay people of color with money rather than barter for goods) in St. Helena Island; Rosehips Folk Art Gallery in Cleveland, Georgia (in the center of that state’s pottery tradition); Yard Dog Folk Art (that features artists from the Gulf region) in Austin, Texas. In addition, the Kentucky Folk Art Center, a museum at Morehead State University, has a permanent collection of nearly 1,400 pieces of “self-taught art.” The Southern Folk Art magazine maintains a list of folk art galleries. 

Fork art often includes decorated cars

• The most notorious folk art parade is held in Houston, Texas, a city also known for conducting folk art tours among its historical excursions. More than 200 cars decorated by folk artists join in the parade that is watched by almost 250,000 people.

Displays by Artists Themselves

Some of the best displays of folk art are on the properties owned of the artists themselves. For example, for years Vollis Simpson made and displayed whirlagigs – pinwheels, propellers, and wind-driven sculptures built with random parts that spin in different directions – in a field next to his repair shop in Lucama, N.C. Because of the widespread recognition that he received, the North Carolina Arts Council created a two-acre park in nearby Wilson, N.C., to preserve and display more than 30 of his whirlagigs. The city even now conducts an annual whirlagig festival each November.

One of my favorite folk artists is Clyde Jones of Bynum, N.C., who uses a chainsaw to carve “critters” out of old logs and stumps. A former mill worker, Jones made critters for 30 years. They are on display at the Smithsonian Institution and around the world. None of his critters are available for sale except those that he donates for charity auctions. They are truly priceless. When my class visited Jones at his home, the students were enchanted by the zoo of brightly painted critters that surrounded his house.

Students on field trip to Jones' home

Student "riding" a critter

With Clyde Jones, renowned folk artist

I was delighted to meet Jones again near Pittsboro, N.C., at the Fearrington Folk Art Show, which is held annually in February and exhibits works by 35 folk artists. Jones represents the spirit of a true folk artist. No matter how often someone raises eyebrows when seeing his critters for the first time without understanding his fame, the renowned chainsaw artist remains confident that his work is art that has stood the test of time.

Visiting a folk art show, talking to an artist, and seeing a festival are important ways to understand more about a region. Seeing how everyday people have expressed their lives and hopes through their folk art gives more insights into a culture, particularly in the American South.

Simmering Stew Brings a Community Together

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.] 

The center of small town is not always a town hall, courthouse, or church. Sometimes it’s a pot of bubbling stew as it is each fall in Mount Gilead, a community of slightly more than 1,000 residents in Montgomery County. Although the community is small, just about everyone knows about the Brunswick stew served when Brown’s Hardware has its open house.

A tasty pot of Brunswick stew
creates a lot of interest.

Incorporated in 1899, Mount Gilead boasts a downtown historic district listed in the National Register of Historic Places.  The heart of historic downtown is a hardware store that has been open continuously for more than 100 years, and the floor creaks like it is even older. Known now as Brown’s Hardware, the business presents itself as an “old timey general store and mercantile,” and it is.

Continue reading at the NCFood blog ...

Sweet Potatoes: Providing Fresh Food for the Needy

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.] 

North Carolina produces about half of all the sweet potatoes grown in the United States, and it has consistently ranked as the top producing state for more than 30 years. More than half of the state’s sweet potatoes are grown in only three counties – Sampson, Nash, and Johnston. These counties in eastern N.C. are prime growing locations with their rich, fertile soil and their hot, moist climate.

Sweet potatoes can be delivered
by  unusual means.

Although the typical movement from farm to table involves a grocery store or chain, sometimes a food bank and its network of volunteers spring into action to provide sweet potatoes to families in need. Sweet potatoes are an excellent choice of fresh nutrition for these families that need to stretch their food budgets with healthy produce and supplement foods provided in other programs.

Continue reading at the NCFood blog ...

Lumbee Fish Market: As Fresh as Being on the Coast

[Note: This post, prepared originally for the NC Folklife Institute's NCFood blog, is hosted on the institute’s website, with excerpts and a link to the website posted here.] 

Drive to the beach along U.S. Highway 74 and tune in a local radio station. If you do, you might hear an ad for Lumbee Fish Market in Pembroke that is so intriguing that you want to visit. It’s a market with fish that you might not expect in a location about two hours inland from coastal waters.

Native Americans have lived in this region for centuries because streams and artesian wells provided an adequate water supply and fish were abundant in the wetland landscape of swamps, creeks, and pocosins. But do the local Native Americans, known as Lumbee, want only freshwater fish? 

Continue reading at the NCFood blog ...