Folk Pottery Museum of Northeast Georgia — Attraction in Cornelia

This is a diamond in the rough. Visit it and see. This is located just north of the intersection of 17 and 255. It is an old restored school building that has been converted into a museum. There is plenty of parking in front of the school. What a great display and gorgeous building. Much of the entrance has large glass windows allowing a lot of light into the building. The staff was very friendly and helpful. There is a short 10-minute Smithsonian film with many of the local artisans featured that describes the local methods that were used to make Appalachian pottery. The building houses lots of displays showing pottery workshops, a kiln model, and pottery uses in past areas. There is a large set of displays of pottery from various artists and timeframes. It is my understanding that many of the pieces in the “workshop” displays are real artwork and not re-creations with makes it all the more fascinating to look at. As a bonus, the building is adjacent to (and connected to) another set of gift shops and museums. You can also visit other buildings on the site. The entire visit was wonderful and well worth visiting. You could spend a fair amount of time as there is a lot of information on display here that tells the true story of pottery that was created and grew out...

This museum surpassed our expectations. Our entire family are artists, with our youngest daughter being a potter. We knew that we would be interested in this museum however, we had no idea how extraordinary this display would be!! The building itself is a piece of art. We were the only people in the entire museum. Penny at the front desk was an amazing hostess. She told us unique things about the museum and the history of the area she also set us up to watch a video. She continually answered questions as they came up. It was almost like having our own tour guide.

Certain days of the week the school house attached to the museum is also open. However, it was closed the day we visited. You can also tour the grounds on a lovely walking path and visit a slave house that was moved to that property. There is also a 1920s gymnasium that they use as a dance hall on the same land.

Admission was free however we made a donation because it was so good. We will be going back at the end of August for their Art farmers...

The museum is an old school with wooden floors converted to a historical museum and rooms with local art and crafts. The Pottery Folk Art Museum is a new building with pottery from local families of potters who have carried on the tradition of Georgia pottery for many generations. Originally they served the needs of local farmers families before glassware was created. They created large pots using salt glazes in wood fired kilns to store preserved food, water, butter, and milk in. They dug and processed their own clay out of the ground. And developed their own glazes. Later when glassware was developed they made pottery and decorative items and began to put faces on the pots which became very popular. Well worth the trip. Donation only....