In the Beginning...

Martha's Flowers pitcher

I've had a strong attraction to Iron Mountain Stoneware since the 1970s.  While I would visit the local stoneware factory at least once each year for my Iron Mountain 'fix', I usually came away without much to show for it. I would walk up and down the aisles of stoneware and literally imagine owning some of the many beautifully decorated and glazed plates, bowls, and platters and then leave, just as I had arrived, empty-handed. I had such appreciation for the quality of the work, the swirls of the glazing brushes, and the down-home feel of the people who worked there at the factory.


Often the potter's husband, Joe Lamb, would seek out the potential customers and ask if they needed help. You could hear the others, usually women as I recall, hidden away, back in the factory portion of the building chatting and laughing as they worked over the clay and the glazes. But, being a liberal arts college student with few means, I left, each time wishing I could purchase something and realizing I didn't have the available funds to actually own any of the pieces I'd see there. It is surprising to me that this many years later I finally have some pieces. In fact, for many years, I couldn't decide which pattern or glazes were my favorites, but finally settled on Blue Ridge to collect. Some of my first pieces of the stoneware were given to me by a fellow teacher and friend, Mona Helbert, who has now passed. I wish she could see how her gift has influenced me so many years later. I used those pieces of Blue Ridge for many years during the 1980s and 1990s--still have most of them even today. The stoneware is truly an enduring example of how people in the hills of Tennessee used local materials and local labor to create a treasure worth owning and enjoying for many, many years.