Matthews Mint Hill has that small town feel.

Did you know that during the mid-1900’s Matthew’s was known for producing pottery. Mr. Rufus F. Outen’s pottery shop is located at 430 Jefferson Street, Matthews NC.   Using local clays he made stoneware out of his workshop. The Outen family settled in Matthews North Carolina in 1922 and called his pottery business, Matthews Pottery.

Today if you were to want to buy pottery in the Matthews Mint Hill area you might take your family to Old Time Pottery located on Sardis Rd off Independence Blvd.  Old Time Pottery stores are stacked with thousands of home decorating items including linens, glassware, dinnerware, and rugs. But if you were hoping to actually make your own potter like that of Mr. Rufus Outen you would want to go to Pottery 51.

Pottery 51 located on 7714 Matthews Mint Hill Road.

If you have every wanted to take a class in pottery they offer classes throughout the year. There are also opportunities to meet with artists and talk with them about their work.  The first night of each month you can meet with artists from 6:30 – 9:00pm.

Mr. Rufus Outen’s historic pottery workshop is a 15 minutes drive from Pottery 51. The Matthews Mint Hill community is rich is local history and fascinating people. If you begin to feel like the Matthews Mint Hill neighborhoods are beginning to lose their small town feel. Might I suggest a trip to Mr. Outen’s pottery workshop and then a drive over to Pottery 51 and meet with local artists who are keeping the craft alive.