Entering Catawba Indian Reservation
All visotors are subject to laws and ordinances of the nation.

Today I took a road trip down to the Catawba Res in Rock Hill, SC.  It's the only res in South Carolina and per the 2010 census, there were 841 people.

In every article, though, it was all about the pottery. Pottery? Okay, I know we have very clay-like soil here in the south east, but wasn't there anything else?

And then i learned..no. Pottery. That's it.

The Catawba pottery traditions have survived for over 6,000 years.  That is thousands of years before anything found by the Anasazi in the Southwest.

But what struck me is the Iswa pottery tradition has been passed down within the Nation parent to child continually.  Their tradition survived contact with Europeans, several international wars, several inter-Indian wars, centuries of economic and cultural stresses, and the introduction of modern technology such as the potter’s wheel. In spite of (or maybe because of) those outside influences, their pottery tradition has remained one of the oldest and purest art forms of its kind. There has never been a period in time when this tradition ceased to exist.

Think about that. Parent to child. Generation to generation for six thousand years without end.

That is humbling. So much of my family traditions are gone generation to generation. Perhaps that's true on a personal level among the Catabwa. But each child is connected to each other person in their tribe through pottery.

Now, I'll admit, when i first saw pictures of the pottery, i wasn't amazingly impressed. It's a distinctive dun color with black smoke marks on it. No patterns like the Anasazi. No southwestern colors. But, like many things, once you look past the lack of flash, you see beauty in its unadorned simplicity.

And once you hear the stories, you fall in love. For example, several pots have heads on them. It's a representation of King Hagler, the Catawba Chief fom 1748-1763. He was killed in an ambush by the Shawnee and brutally murdered. 254 years later, they are still honoring their fallen chief.

How many Americans can ever remember the names of all 44 presidents?