Clara Maude Hilton (aka Clara Maude Cobb)

Clara Maude Cobb married Ernest Auburn Hilton of Hilton Pottery. Her husband turned the pieces while Clara and their daughters, Tommie, Lera, Ernestine, and Mozell, applied the glazes and decorations.

The Hilton pottery became noted for its dogwood patterns, featuring raised white dogwood blossoms on a dark beige background. Hilton also produced blue-edge pottery (cobalt blue on beige) resembling the wares of colonial days. Ernest created painted nature scenes as well as numerous designs of vases, flower pots, pitchers, and sets of dishes. The pottery was fired in a groundhog kiln and coated with ground-up Coca Cola bottles, his favorite glaze. He used local clay, of course, but also some from Enka, Morganton, Seagrove, Spruce Pine, and Statesville. Hilton experimented with different clays, mixing "long" clay from the east with "short" clay from the west to give more life and color to his pieces.

[Source: Museum Staff – Whitney Richardson]