'North Carolina Pottery Highway' Idea Scrapped ... for now

Signs like this along NC 705 in Randolph and
Moore County help promote the pottery industry

The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources decided to scrap the idea of spending about $100,000 to help Seagrove and surrounding communities promote their pottery heritage, citing dissension as the reason.

The idea was to create "a variety of education and marketing components such as informational kiosks, outdoor interpretive panels, maps, guides, photos, and website support...to stimulate cultural travelers and residents to discover North Carolina’s unique and authentic culture. " A proposed North Carolina Pottery Highway trail was to include Randolph, Moore, Montgomery, Chatham, and Lee counties.

A public meeting in Raleigh was held this past week. The cultural department received comment from that meeting (including telephone conference calls) and from online comment forms.

Three other trails - African American Music Trails, Historic Happy Valley Byway and Blue Ridge Music Trails - received the go ahead for funding.

"While there is strong support for three trails, there is dissent about the North Carolina Pottery Highway," the department said in a release. "There are some enthusiastic supporters of the North Carolina Pottery Highway who see it as a means to boost tourism and help market pottery. However there is not basic agreement on fundamental project components, such as appropriate name and whether or not there should be kiosks, informational panels, or maps."

"We look forward to the opportunity to work with the five-county area whenever the community is ready," the release stated.