NEW BERN, N.C. — A man in New Bern is using art to carry on the legacy of his ancestors. Ben Watford has been making pottery, specifically pieces known as face jugs, for about 50 years.

What You Need To Know

Historians say face jugs, a style of ceramic art, may have been used as grave markers for slaves

The face jugs often feature ugly or scary faces with the belief that they scare the devil away

Ben Watford, a potter in New Bern, continues to make face jugs to this day

Face jugs are usually ceramic and have an ugly or sometimes scary face on the outside.

Michael Ausbon, the decorative arts curator at the North Carolina Museum of History, says enslaved Africans from the Edgefield South Carolina district are credited as the creators of the mid-19th century Southern face jug.

Since slaves couldn’t have grave markers, they used face jugs instead and believed the features would scare the devil away, allowing the person to go to heaven.

“In some of the original face jugs you’ll see more grotesque features, scary features like teeth, nose, horns and big bulging eyes and sharp teeth and horns and that sort of thing. It’s to protect and ward off those evil spirits,” Ausbon said.

It’s rare to find someone who still makes face jugs, and while Watford’s creations are special, there’s much more to his story.

“I sign and date my full name on every piece I’ve ever made, since I started making pottery,” Watford said.

If Watford’s hundreds of pieces of pottery could talk, they’d tell the fascinating story of his life. He’s a prolific potter, specializing in face jugs.

“Ancestor worship is a part of Black culture coming from Africa. They used to put these jugs on the grave. Some potter got the idea of putting faces on them. The uglier the face, the better because it scares the devil away and your soul can go to heaven,” Watford said.

He’s also a veteran, lived through the Jim Crow era and became a science teacher.

“The day I walked out of Howard University with that degree in chemistry was the last day I had to worry about anything. Everything fell in place,” Watford said. “I could even buy a life membership in the NAACP which is what I wanted. It was only $50 when I was in college, and I didn’t have $50 to pay for it. By the time I bought it, it was $700.”

A few years ago Watford started the Craven County Community Bail fund, a project to help people make bail.

“I just see them as being incarcerated, wrongfully incarcerated, because they’re totally innocent until they go before a judge. We put them in jail anyway to await their trial, so it’s wrong,” Watford said.

In February 2020, Watford received The Order of the Long Leaf Pine Society award. According to the award’s website, “Since 1963, North Carolina’s governors have reserved their highest honor, The Order of the Long Leaf Pine award, for persons who have made significant contributions to the state and their communities through their exemplary service and exceptional accomplishments.”

Watford is almost 90 years old, lives alone and takes every opportunity to remember his wife.

“She was absolutely gorgeous. I thought she was the most beautiful thing in the world and brilliant,” Watford said.

Watford’s wife passed away at the end of 2021. A few decades ago, he made urns for him and his wife.

“My wife is in this one. These were on the living room mantle. I think that’s the only reason they were saved,” Watford said.

His wife’s urn survived an electrical fire that destroyed his house in February.

“This big room was my study, and I had wall-to-wall book cases around the wall,” Watford said.

A wagon with some unfinished pottery and tools was really all that was salvaged from his studio.

“All these shelves in there were filled with glaze I purchased and these were filled with pieces I was going to work on,” Watford said.

The pottery that was burned is a continuation of his story, physical proof that he’s left his mark.

“I just hope that I can leave a footprint on the sands of time. I want people to know I passed this away and tried to make a difference, that’s all. That’s what I live for,” Watford said.

And he’s not done yet.

“I can’t stop. If you go through life and you don’t make a change in the world, your life is useless. You have to change everything in the world that you can,” Watford said. “I’ll be 100 in 10 years so come on. I might as well do as much as I can in that 10 years to make the world a better place, and I’m going to keep trying.”

Luckily, Watford’s daughter has a second home just down the road from where his house was so he has a roof over his head and has insurance to cover what he lost.

Watford says he’s already working on plans to rebuild, and he wants to build a replica of his old house without stairs since he’s older now.