Backcountry Notes

porch pot given to author by brother-in-law Mark Heywood of Whynot PotteryEvery now and then, I see a big, un-glazed piece of North Carolina pottery for sale.  There was a bisque Joe Owen Rebecca vase for sale last year.  These pieces are scarce, usually turning up at estate sales in North Carolina, and the seller is always at a loss to explain the lack of glazing, which is particularly vexing for North Carolina art pottery pieces.  There is no mystery, really - - these are porch pots.

The porch pots of North Carolina are an aspect of the traditional culture of the Backcountry, where local settlers were dependent on each other for many goods and services while being substantially independent from the outside world. See Backcountry Culture.  The pot would be delivered to a neighbor or relative, with the explanation, "I brung ye a pot to set on your porch."  Thus the term "porch pot."  The pot was typically large, running from one to two feet in height, and sometimes it set on the porch, and sometimes it set inside.  In either case, the porch pot was a gesture honoring the importance of community in Backcountry life.

Porch pots were given, not sold.  Potters were not the only ones keeping this tradition; the arrival of a young couple's first baby often would be followed by the delivery of a hand-made crib by a local carpenter.  If payment was offered, it was promptly refused.  "It's for the baby. She can owe me."

During the summertime, garden produce was a favored gift.  You didn't dare stop by Della Mae Cagle's house in Whynot if you didn't want to take home a grocery sack of tomatoes, peppers, and squash, and maybe another sack of string beans to boot.  When my grandfather needed something from the farm supply place in Asheboro, I was dispatched to fill a paper sack with tomatoes, peppers, and squash, since we would invariably stop to see one of my great aunts, Martha and Margaret.  Those forays had to be made on short notice, lest we be compelled to take home a pie or a plate of cookies.

Porch pots must be distinguished from flower pots, as such; the latter were often fired un-glazed, of course.  Porch pots had a different purpose and usually were not suitable for use as flowerpots.

So if you're in central or western North Carolina and you see a big, unglazed vase setting on a porch - - it's not a mistake, it's a piece of tradition called a porch pot.