The first article that I penned for Mountainfreak.net was a report on the annual Christmas shopping trip my son and I take to north Georgia and Mark Of the Potter to purchase a gift for his mother. It is now a year later and once again we took the first school vacation day to head up to Grandpa Watts old mill on the Soque River.
It was a frigid day in north Georgia, and we joined other visitors inside the old mill taking turns around the wood stove as we browsed the great selection of pottery thrown by the 4 resident potters along with 20+ others from around the southeast. The bowl we purchased came from a North Carolina potter. I could spend a day and a thousand dollars in the place-but settled for 45 minutes and $40.
No trip to Mark of the Potter is complete unless you feed the pet trout in the river out back. Food pellets are sold from a gumball machine on the back deck for that purpose.
These are very large and well fed trout and they seem to enjoy the chow. The tradition is said to back to the days when the mill was still grinding corn..and the trout would hang around the mill to feed on the meal that spilled into the river.
The mill house was built in 1930, and operated until a flood inundated all of the machinery in the mid 1960s. It was sold and re opened as Mark of the Potter in 1969.
I would recommend visiting, even if it is just to look around, soak up the history..and feed the trout. If you enjoy great looking, functional pottery..I suspect you will go home with some, it's hard not to.
Inside Mark of the Potter
For more information check out their website: www.MarkofthePotter.com
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