Down in rural North Carolina there use to be a thriving moonshine industry and since in rural North Carolina lies the little pottery crazed town of Seagrove there was bound to be a connection between Moonshine and Pottery.

Now Seagrove doesn't claim to be the first to make the face jug but it does have its place in the face jug history. There are many tales behind the face jug so let me share the two that I best know are true.

Face Jug Theory #1

It is believed that the face jug was first created as both storage for illegal moonshine and a child preventative. Old Grandpa use to brew him up a batch of his finest moonshine and pour it into a devil or some other monster face jug and cork it. Now when the kids came round, grandpa would say, Kid's now ya'll don't go in my bedroom, cause the Devil is in there. So in essence, grandpa got to drink his moonshine, hide it from the law, and scare the kids away from a gut wrenching. "Smiley" on the other hand is a happy version of a face jug, perhaps to lessen the anguish of cough medicine, or to serve drink, punch, or something pleasant from.

Face Jug Theory #2

Face jugs were also created to represent the character of the moonshine or liquor put inside them. You can tell by the big possum grin on Smiley's face that what he's serving will leave you happier than a coon up the tree with the axe lost. * *For all non-hunting folks, it is traditional in the hunt of raccoons to give them a sportin' chance. When you go hunting and a raccoon makes it up the tree, you either have to climb the tree and chase him out or take an axe and chop the tree down. So in essence if the axe is lost the coon was mighty happy. For absolutely hilarious tales of coon hunting you must buy the CD: Jerry Clower’s Greatest Hits Your Face Jug Stories Do you have an interesting story behind your face jug collection? Why you are a collector? Anything else that you would like to share about face jugs? Please email me your face jug stories and other face jug information and I'll post it here on the website to share with other face jug fanatics Email: info@face-jugs.com