Mark of the Potter

Mark of the Potter fills a 1930s corn-grinding mill beside the Soque River, and you can drive there from Helen in about 25 minutes (14 miles). The gallery sells handmade pottery and other crafts by local and regional artists, and it calls itself the oldest-running pottery gallery in Georgia. Its trout are a bigger draw than you'd expect: visitors feed them from the shop balcony over the river.

Expect handmade functional pottery, the kind you'd actually use: mugs, bowls and platters. The mill building and its river setting are as much of the visit as the shopping, so give yourself time to step out onto the balcony and watch the Soque River. The mill history page on the gallery's site tells the story of Grandpa Watts' water-ground mill.

The pottery gallery opened in 1969, in a 1930s corn-grinding mill known as the Grandpa Watts mill. The mill had been closed after flood damage when the founders bought the property, repaired the buildings and set up their studio, converting the upstairs to living space. Our deep-history page goes further into the craft tradition.