Who We Are

Whynot Pottery is operated by Mark and Meredith Heywood. We have lived in Whynot for over thirty years now and have made our living making pots since 1982.

We are Whynot Pottery. Both of us have a hand in every step in production and you should know, there are many steps. Pots are handled countless times before they find their way into your home.

Except for the occasional part time helper  everything you see in our store was made by one of us. If the piece has our logo stamp it was surely made by one of us as we allow no one else to use that stamp. If the piece is special in some way we may have signed it. Most often with just our first name. Nothing special about that - we just have the same initials so MH on the bottom doesn't really tell you much.

What We Do

It's simple, really. We just make pots. Pots for vases - pots for pouring - pots for drinking  - pots to serve from - pots to eat from - pots that are candles - pots that are lamps…………..

We start with high quality pre-mixed  clay and form our pots on the wheel and occasionally with clay either rolled or extruded. After drying the work is fired to about 1800 degrees Fahrenheit-what we'd call bisque temperature. At this point the work is ready to glaze.

Glazes are applied by either dipping the pots or pouring the glaze and sometimes a combination of each.

All of our glazes are mixed on site and made up mostly of feldspar, flint, clay, calcium carbonate, and wood ashes. Metallic oxides (mostly iron) are added for color.

We never use lead.

The glaze kiln is fueled by LP gas. It takes twelve to sixteen hours to bring the interior temperature to 2350^o and two full days for the ware inside to cool enough to be handled. The intense heat of the kiln vitrifies the clay and melts the glaze, which partially soaks into the surface of the pots.

Contact Information

If you have any questions or comments send an email to info@whynotpottery.com. If you are interested in making a purchase put pottery in the subject line.

Why Whynot?

Until 1905 much of the area in North Carolina that is now called Seagrove was known as Whynot.

In about 1860 the people of the community found themselves in need of an official name in order to establish a federal post office. During a meeting called to address this need many suggestions were considered. Each prospective name was preceded with the question "Why not?"

Since no one was willing to answer that question, or agree on a name, the meeting dragged on late into the night. After hours of polite indecision, one brave and tired soul stood up and said, "Why not call it Whynot and let's go home."

If you know of another community or pottery named Whynot please e-mail me and tell me where it is and what you know of it. So far the only other Whynot I know is in Mississippi just south of Interstate 20 at the Alabama state line. And I haven't heard their story yet.

Let me know if you have another "Whynot" story!