By the Way – A Pottery Jar for FDR?

By The Way A Pottery Jar for FDR?

By Emory Jones

As many of you know, two of my favorite things are folk pottery and Georgia history. And believe it or not, those two things cross paths more often than you’d think. That’s why I was so excited to learn that President Franklin D. Roosevelt—a man who certainly made a bit of history—may have had an eye for folk pottery, too. You see, back in 1937, Arie Meaders, the matriarch of the famous Meaders pottery clan, was on the front porch of the little house she shared with her husband, Cheever, and their eight children. That old house still stands (barely) just above Mossy Creek in the southern part of White County. Arie was my great aunt by marriage, and here’s what she had to say about what happened that day. “I was down in the front room of the house feeding the baby, Ruby. She was just three or four months old then, so it was the spring of 1938. That’s when a big ole car pulled off the road, and the ugliest woman I’d ever seen got out. She pointed to a little clay pot sittin’ on the rail, and said she wanted to buy it. That woman talked so twangy; I barely could make out what she was saying. “I told her that particular pot waddn’t for sale, but that we had plenty more just like it up at the shop. But that wouldn’t do a-tall! She said her husband had seen it from the road and wanted that one.”

Being a practical woman, Aunt Arie sold it to her for a quarter even though the woman could have bought a dozen more just like it or better a hundred yards further north.

During their chitchat, the stranger commented on Aunt Arie’s jonquils. Arie told the lady her hat was nice. “It did suit her,” she remembered later. After the woman got back in the car, the man driving waved and flashed a familiar smile. Arie realized she had just sold pottery to Eleanor Roosevelt and her husband Franklin D., the President of the United States. She hurried to tell Cheever who greeted her story about like you’d expect. He never did believe Arie had actually met Eleanor Roosevelt, so she didn’t talk about the matter much after that. But I have her on tape telling the story. And, if Aunt Arie Meaders said it happened, I believe it did, even if her husband didn’t.

And how about this? I recently found some facts that support Aunt Arie’s story. When the tornados of 1936 demolished Gainesville, President Roosevelt stopped by on his way to Warm Springs to survey the damage. After committing to help rebuild the town, he came back in (wait for it…the spring of 1938!) to check on the progress. So, regardless of whether or not Cheever believed his wife’s story, we now know the president WAS within 25 miles of Arie’s house at the time she claims that twangy-sounding woman bought the pottery. FDR, who suffered from polio, often slipped behind the wheel of that handsome convertible with custom-made hand controls, eluded his secret service detail, and hit the road, so it could have happened. It was definitely a different time.

That car offered him an escape from the duties of the presidency. So, it’s quite possible he drove the short distant to White County during his stop in Gainesville. And, if he did, I wonder where that pottery pot is today. Wherever it is, I’d sure give more than a quarter for it. I mean, just in case anyone in the government is listening and wants to sell it.

Emory Jones grew up in Northeast Georgia’s White County. After a stint in the Air Force, he joined Gold Kist as publications manager. He was the Southeastern editor for Farm Journal Magazine and executive vice president at Freebarin & Company, an Atlanta-based advertising agency. He has written seven books. Emory is known for his humor, love of history and all things Southern. He and his wife, Judy, live on Yonah Mountain near Cleveland, Georgia.