McCarty’s Pottery

The pottery studio sits hidden in leafy foliage on a small side street in a small town just north of Cleveland. It’s unassuming and reserved, an oasis masked in plain sight. Inside, vases, serving plates, light fixtures, hanging baskets, and other items adorn every spare inch of space, alongside paintings by Mary Sims and Terra Hamblett, all a testament to artistic vision, to a life lived creating and collecting.

Lee McCarty and his wife Pup began studying pottery in the 1950s while in Oxford, Mississippi, finding their first bit of fortune in a clay-filled ravine at Rowan Oak, William Faulkner’s historic home. Soon afterwards, they moved back to Merigold, setting up shop in an aunt’s old mule barn. By the 1960s, they had made a name for themselves, and had shown their work in numerous galleries across the south.

Today, the legacy of McCarty Pottery endures. Although Lee and Pup have passed away, their godsons Jamie and Stephen Smith still carry on the trade to this day. Visitors can still admire the original glazes developed by the couple, known as their three primaries: nutmeg, cobalt blue, and jade. Each piece also carries a signature flourish—a slender black line winding downward. It symbolizes the mighty Mississippi River, an enduring thread woven into the studio’s story.

But the line, the river, is more than just a design element. It’s a call to home, a nod to the ancient waterway that shaped this region and gave it life. In every piece here, the spirit of the Mississippi Delta flows, tying the artistry to its roots and preserving its legacy for generations to come.