When the first crisp fall-like morning sneaks in, just as Atlantans have abandoned all hope that the dog days of summer will ever end, the thoughts of many metro denizens turn to mountain day trips or weekend escapes.
Northeast Georgia being a hotbed for the folk pottery craft tradition dating to the early 1800s, the potters put on shows and sales and festivals as soon as the leaves start to turn.
Here’s a look at the first of five upcoming sales:
Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia’s Show and Sale
Marking its ninth anniversary, the Southeast’s only museum devoted exclusively to this folk tradition will host its seventh annual show and sale, featuring folk and studio potters from Georgia, Alabama and North and South Carolina, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sept. 5.
More than a dozen Georgia folk potters will be presented in the gymnasium of the adjoining Sautee Nacoochee Center, 4 miles southeast of Helen, while some 15 other potters will set up booths on the grounds.
A variety of 19th-century crafts will be demonstrated, and a blacksmith forge will be operating. A restored northeast Georgia slave cabin will be open, as will the Sautee Nacoochee Center’s history museum and two galleries of local art. Old-time mountain music will be played throughout the day, and barbecue will be available.
Credit: hpousner
Credit: hpousner
Starting Sept. 4, visitors also can check out the exhibit "Ancient Forms, Modern Minds: Contemporary Cherokee Ceramics." Organized by the Asheville (N.C.) Museum of Art, it will remain on view through Nov. 1.
Admission will be waived Sept. 5 for all attractions. 283 Ga. 255 in Sautee Nacoochee, a quarter-mile north of the Ga. 17 junction. 706-878-3300, www.folkpotterymuseum.com.
To read about the other four sales, click here.
