SEAGROVE, N.C. — Finding this town (population 250) on a map takes some research and some squinting. It's just a small dot between Asheboro and Rockingham, near the geographical center of the state.

But within about 15 miles of this crossroads, straddling the counties of Randolph, Moore and Montgomery, lies a thriving and focused industry in handmade pottery. In this small segment of the state, close to 100 potteries and galleries speckle the rolling landscape.

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And with so many potters concentrated in a small territory, this area is a shopper's delight. From crystalline to salt-glazed, from traditional to very contemporary, from large to small, you can find it all here. Perhaps the greatest challenge is where to go and what to pass by.

A recommended start for a Seagrove visit is the North Carolina Pottery Center, an attractive, relatively new building near the center of downtown Seagrove. First, the center has the best map of pottery locations. (Warning: Do not expect it to be to scale.) You can pick one up from a covered outside rack even if the center isn't open.

A stroll through the Pottery Center provides an excellent grounding in the history of potting here and elsewhere. You can follow that by reviewing the cases allotted to modern Seagrove area potters. Each potter can display only two or three pieces, but that will help you narrow your tour by taking note what of most appeals to you.

While not all potters are open to the public (some show pieces in the galleries chiefly located in downtown), most of them have hours posted on the map. Once you've selected your main targets, you're ready to drive the back roads. Virtually all the potteries have signs posted along the main roads, and along secondary roads, to help you find them.

A great number are in the vicinity of N.C. 705, rightfully named the "Pottery Highway," along the stretch from Seagrove in Randolph County southeast into Moore County. To the south and southwest, into Montgomery County, other potters have staked their claims.

If you want to pay homage to the history of potting in this area, take 705 out to Busbee Road, hang a left and go out to "the original Owens" and Jugtown.

On the way to Jugtown, Owens sits on the left, proudly stating its "original" status, having opened for business in 1895. Owens is the kind of trusting business that allows people to wander through the shop unaccompanied. If you decide to buy, the signs tell you to step out on the back porch and ring the bell. Someone will come over and take your cash (or credit card). On the day I visited, family members were in a building behind the showroom working with a kiln; they turn, or throw, pots there, too.

Up and around the corner on Jugtown Road sits another pottery credited in part with bringing the industry and its craft back to life, starting in 1917. A couple from Chapel Hill, N.C., the Busbees, opened a shop in Greenwich Village in New York and began to champion the work of young potters from Moore County.

"That, in large part, is what saved Seagrove," said Denny Hubbard Mecham, executive director of the Pottery Center. "The Busbees saw this work as folk art. They also took these young potters to New York City, to the museums, and exposed them to new forms and markets."

The later rebirth began when established pottery families were joined by outsiders in the 1960s and 1970s, Mecham noted.

"People come into the potteries here one of three ways," she said. "Birth, marriage or as a journeyman, which is the term preferred in this trade to 'apprentice.' Journeymen trained elsewhere, but many of them came here to start their own businesses. You have to realize that it's not just pottery-making, but a way of life."

Charles "Doc" Tostoe, who has operated the Fat Beagle Pottery since the 1980s after apprenticing in the 1970s, represents the modern trends of Seagrove well. His business and reputation have spread beyond the area, but he remains here. As well as anyone, he knows that becoming a potter takes long, hard work, and even then, some days are better than others.

The economy of recent years has been no great help. Business was pretty steady in the 1990s. But since 2000, and particularly Sept. 11, 2001, the market has become more splintered.

"When I go out to the shows, or here in the shop, I've found that the high-end buyers still seem to have money — the $150 to $350 buyer — and then there are the others who will study the $10 or $20 item for some time, and sometimes buy it. The middle market, though, has all but disappeared," Tostoe said as he threw midsize vases on his wheel, or lathe, in his showroom.

There's a whole language of potting in the South, apparently some of it different from other parts of the country — another reason to visit the Pottery Center first and read some of the display text before going shopping.

For instance, Southern potters did not "throw" pots, I learned.

"They 'turned' them and often referred to themselves as 'turners,' " Mecham said. "Their wheels . . . were referred to as 'lathes' (pronounced 'lays'). In like manner, they didn't 'fire' their kilns (pronounced 'kills'); instead, they 'burned' them."

If you're into the important details, you'll want to know these things. Earthenware clays are found closer to the surface than stoneware clays. Salt glazing, which is quite popular in the Seagrove area, literally uses table salt in the glazing process. Certain family names in pottery — which you will run across throughout the area — include Auman, Chrisco, Cole, Craven, Fox, Loy, Owen or Owens and Teague.

As a result, Seagrove can be an education as well as a shopping excursion.

With all those colorful glazes, and the range of looks from simple tableware to the most exotic work — vases, lamps, face jugs, honey pots, candleholders, pitchers, flowerpots and figurines — don't spend too much time learning, though. Save the bulk of your time for the beauties that nature's clay and man's skill provide in abundance in this little North Carolina town.

IF YOU GO

Getting there

• Flying: Delta, United and USAirways, among others, serve Greensboro's Piedmont Triad International Airport. Expect to pay under $200 round trip. From the airport, go west on Bryan Boulevard, turn south on N.C. 68, then take I-40 east to U.S. 220 south. Follow U.S. 220 through Asheboro to Exit 45/N.C. 705, go east into Seagrove. From the airport to Seagrove is about 50 miles.

• Driving: From downtown Atlanta, take I-85 north, through Charlotte to the Greensboro area. Take U.S. 220 south to Exit 45/N.C. 705 east into downtown Seagrove. Signs for potteries are everywhere; maps are available at several locations (see below).

Where to stay

• Duck Smith House B&B, 465 N. Broad St. (U.S. Business 220 in Seagrove), P.O. Box 75, Seagrove, NC 27341; 1-888-869-9018, http://www.bbonline.com/nc/ducksmith. Four rooms; rates $95-$105.

• Blair House B&B, 105 Blair St., Troy, NC 27371; 1-866-572-2100, http://www.blairhousebb.com. Four rooms; rates $90-$95. About 12 miles southwest of Seagrove.

• Other options for motels and meals: Asheboro, N.C., is about 11 miles to the north of Seagrove. Several chain motels and restaurants are along U.S. 64 near the U.S. 220 intersection.

Where to eat

• Westmoore Family Restaurant, 2172 N.C. 705 (near Barbee Road and central to about 28 potteries), Westmoore. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Tues-days-Saturdays, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Sundays. 910-464-5222. Entrees, $5.99-$14.99; sandwiches, $1.49-$5.29. Fine french fries.

• Jugtown Cafe (north of the center of town on Broad Street/Business 220), 7042 U.S. 220 S., 336-873-8292. 6 a.m.-2 p.m. Mondays-Wednesdays, 6 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursdays-Satur-days, 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Sundays.

• Seagrove Family Restaurant (south of the center of town), 8702 U.S. 220 S., 336-873-7789. 5 a.m.-3 p.m. Mon-days-Thursdays, 5 a.m.-8 p.m. Fridays, 5 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

What to do

• North Carolina Pottery Center, 250 East Ave. (P.O. Box 531, Seagrove NC 27341-0531); 336-873-8430, http://www.ncpotterycenter.com. Works by historical and current potters on display; changing exhibits. 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Tuesdays-Saturdays. Adults, $2; students 13-18, $1; 12 and under free. Accessible from N.C. 705/East Main Street; about one block east from Business 220 intersection; or via East Avenue from Broad Street/Business 220.

• Museum of North Carolina Traditional Pottery, East Main Street just east of Business 220 (P.O. Box 500, Seagrove NC 27341). 336-873-7887, http://www.tourseagrove.com (Web site under construction). 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays; 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturdays.

• Touring maps of the potteries are available at the Pottery Center; at the Museum of North Carolina Traditional Pottery; at galleries in the downtown area; and online at http://www.visitrandolph.org/pdf/seagrove_pottery_map.pdf (though it's hard to read and not as up-to-date as the printed maps).

Special event

• Seagrove holds its annual pottery festival on the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Information

• Seagrove Area Potters Association, P.O. Box 309, Seagrove, NC 27341; http://www.discoverseagrove.com.

• Randolph County Tourism Development Authority, P.O. Box 4774, Asheboro, NC 27204; 1-800-626-2672, http://www.visitrandolph.org.

• Moore County and information on playing golf, http://www.homeofgolf.com.

• Montgomery County, http://www.montgomery-county.com.