Article Originally Published July 2014
It was just another Tuesday on the outskirts of Sanford, Neolia Cole had started her day turning red North Carolina Clay, the same why she had spent a lot of Tuesdays over the past 75 years. It was mid August, she was getting a start on one of her best sellers for the fall season, the Jack-O-Lanterns when she got the call.
Her Husband had fell ill and was being rushed to the Hospital. She dropped what she was doing having no clue that it would be 10 months before again returned to the the only job she has ever known. On the way to the hospital she was T Boned at an intersection and broke over 7 bones in her body. She would spend the next four months recovering just in time to lose her husband.
She just returned last week so I stopped by Saturday and grabbed everything in stock that she had turned. She will be making a little but it seems to be the end of an era unless Kenneth George returns. If your ever floating thru Sanford on a Saturday stop and and talk to a North Carolina Living Legend or visit the Exposition in Seagrove running until July 26th.
Coles Pottery is located in Sanford at 3410 Hawkins Ave
“Neolia, Keeper of the Cole Pottery Tradition: A Retrospective” & “Ring Jugs and Rundlets”
Through July 26, hours are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
The North Carolina Pottery Center, 233 East Ave., Seagrove.
Further Reading
Coles Legacy Is Her Masterpiece
See #ColePottery for many more photos
Right : Left to dry and forever frozen unfinished
