Touring the Sandhills Area of NC 5"13

One can only spend so much time on golf courses before the muscles and the wallet give out.  So a little time each day was spent exploring the area

We were a bit disappointed.  For an area of such wealth, there is a surprising lack of community interest in fine art and craft.  We located the small Southern Pines Artist League Gallery,  located in the historic Campbell House (above) , and visited the Exchange Street Gallery, home of the Artist League of the Sandhills, located in an old railway warehouse in Aberdeen.  But other than that, fine art painting  galleries were few and far between.  

A Seagrove pottery Studio

 Slightly further afield the story changes.  Seagrove NC,s located in the next county north west of Pinehurst, is a mecca for potters. There are so many pottery studios in the area that the State of North Carolina has designated one of the roads as the "Pottery Highway"  with signposts marking the way from the freeway for visitors to follow.  It's worth touring that road if just for the lovely scenery along the way.

Another Seagrove view

  We visited the NC Pottery Center  in Seagrove and were fortunate enough to catch the opening of the "Big Red: Chrome Red and Other Red Glazes of the North Carolina Piedmont" exhibit ( May 10- July 2, North Carolina Pottery Center,233 East Avenue PO Box 531, Seagrove, NC 27341). 

NC Pottery Center

 
On display was  an extraordinary and exhilarating collection of historical and contemporary red glazes from across North Carolina’s rich Piedmont. We spent a good two hours comparing and contrasting the old and the new in one of the most remarkable collections of beautiful chrome red glazes assembled in North Carolina.

Perhaps our favorite find of the week was the Pisgah Covered Bridge.  This interesting structure, one of North Carolina's two remaining historic covered bridges. Built in 1911 at a cost of $40, the bridge is 54 feet in length and crosses the West Fork Branch of the Little River within the Uwharrie National Forest.

 

 Had it not been raining it would have been a  great place for a picnic.  Rain or not, it will make a great addition to my collection of paintings of historic places.