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The Fourteenth Shop

In 1973 Milly and Al McCanless bought one hundred and sixty acres in Seagrove, North Carolina and set out to make it in life as farmers. Such a move would be a challenge for any young couple and so it was for Milly and Al, but it was also an adventure which showed their sincerity and commitment to living a life that everyone, at some time or another, wants but few really realize.

It takes a lot of courage to turn a dream into reality, and when you do, darn it, it's no longer a dream! That's when the family dogs reveal another side of their nature and kill the two goats you bought and had named after two aunts - Agnes, and Genevieve. Or the cow, bought to provide fresh milk, does so but, with a wild kick of the milk bucket, scatters it on the barn floor day after day. "Drink that 'fresh milk' college boy! Moo!!" No, in dreams milk cows don't do that, and they don't provide the meat for dinner either. But, ... this one did. Goats, who managed to survive the dogs, provided the family with milk from here on out.

But life on the farm also provided memories that dreams are made of. Three children, all boys, came in quick succession. (A daughter, Fiva, was born later) Three distinct personalities who managed to grow up together as one. They were born into freedom. The farm was their playground. It was their world, and when they left it later in life to pursue their own adventures they realized it was also their home. So, they've come back. Not to farm, but to continue turning out hand-painted and crystalline pottery that began in 1983 when Milly needed miniature dishes for a dollhouse she had acquired for herself. She couldn't afford the dishes that were for sale at the time so she took a pottery class at Montgomery Community College and worked her way down from regular pots to miniatures. Soon, Al began to help paint the miniatures and he worked his way up from miniatures to regular pots.

And so opened the 14th pottery shop in Seagrove. A shop that has truly added to the pottery tradition of the area. And as to life in that part of the world one need only experience the hospitality and kindness of the McCanless family and listen to the music they play to realize that life really doesn't get much better than this.

But you never know what's up around the bend. So, we'll keep looking, and measure the future with the past, and where we've been: at the end of a gravel road off Dover Church Road in Seagrove, North Carolina