Beth Spindler on tue 20 feb 07
Hi, Rachel,
Just read this thread about colonial pottery and was surprised when WILLIAMSBURG told you that there were no colonial potters....WRONG!!! Please go to this website...... www.westmoreland-county.org/muexhtml and you can read about Morgan Jones, a 17th Century potter from my neck of the woods.....Westmoreland County, VA. Muesum in Montross has an exhibit of his work. About 80 miles southeast of DC on the Potomac River which runs into the Chesapeake Bay.
And down the river or I should say, if one crosses over to a nearby peninsula, they will come to Yorktown, VA where archaelogists uncovered a kiln a couple of years ago that they believed to be the first one on the east coast. Yorktown, being on the York river...a hop,skip and jump from Williamsburg. Yorktown is also a bit upstream and over from the James River as in Jamestown, soon to celebrate its 400th anniverisary. Yes, there were potters, maybe they thought better than to advertise their wares to others, but there were those who did indeed produce.......geez... now I am homesick for the river!!!
Hope this helps!!!
P.S. More historical stuff: George Washington's birthplace is called Wakefield located in Westmoreland County, Stratford Hall - birthplace of Robert E. Lee, and Monroe Bay - home of James Monroe also in Westmoreland county...take the kids over for a visit one day....cross the "301" bridge in southern Md and you are in "Historyland" or the Northen Neck of VA( as the tourist people call it) in about 20 minutes or so.
Beth who now resides in the foothills of VA.....but still has the river flowing in her veins...
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Rudy Tucker on wed 21 feb 07
Rachel,
You wrote " took the kids to Williamsburg, VA for the long weekend =
(previously planned, but great timing anyway)... I asked folks there =
(since the area is fairly close to the Chesapeake Bay area I'll be =
demoing in), and guess what the answer was? THERE WERE NO COLONIAL =
POTTERS! (At least not professionally, pre-revolution, in the =
Mid-Atlantic area.)" =20
Beth Spindler is correct on this one. Maybe what was said is that there =
were no potters in colonial Williamsburg. Emphasizing "in" Williamsburg. =
There is an abundance of archeological and written evidence that William =
Rogers operated a pottery in Yorktown, VA as early as 1720. It is true =
that colonists were not allowed to engage in certain enterprises that =
might compete with British businesses, pottery manufacture being one of =
them. With Williamsburg being the colonial seat of government in =
Virginia, it is understandable that these competitive businesses were =
not allowed to be visible. But there is evidence that Governor Gooch =
down played the size of Rogers' quite large operation in reports to the =
Commission for Trade and Plantations and to the Board of Trade in =
London. Reasons for this misinformation are unclear.=20
An excellent article about this pottery can be found in the 2004 edition =
of Ceramics in America edited be Robert Hunter, ISBN 0-9724353-3-6.
Rudy Tucker
on a sunny morning in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
Rachel Campbell on wed 21 feb 07
Hi Guys,
OK, so evidently you can't believe everything a re-enacter tells
you! Thanks Beth, for the pointer... And I also heard off-list, more
details about the "Poor Potter of Yorktown":
"There existed a rather large industrial pottery in Yorktown
that made salt glaze pottery that was extremely well formed and
documents show that it was exported and sold along the east coast and
back in England. Interesting story - The pottery was owned by
William Rogers and he was known as the "Poor Potter of Yorktown". The
pottery was made mostly by slaves and indentured servants. Actually
William Rodgers was a wealthy entrepreneur - a brewer by trade who
pulled the wool over tax collectors by documenting his pots as poorly
made and really a small concern when in truth it was one of the first
small industrial businesses in colonial America. The kiln foundations
can still be seen today in Yorktown. The National Park Service has a
wonderful collection of these pots. "
SOOO-- just thought I'd pass along the information. ALSO-- sorry for
the horrible formatting for all my posting yesterday! (I just saw it
on the Digest.) I wasn't at my normal computer, so I used Yahoo's
mail, which evidently messed it up (I PROMISE it didn't look like
that when I hit Send!)...
Thanks again, everyone! Clayart rocks!
:-) --Rachel in Odenton, MD
http://DownToThePottersHouse.com
At 12:00 AM 2/21/2007, you wrote:
>------------------------------
>
>Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:39:45 -0500
>From: Beth Spindler
>Subject: Re: US Colonial history of pottery? and more...
>
>Hi, Rachel,
>Just read this thread about colonial pottery and was surprised when
>WILLIAMSBURG told you that there were no colonial
>potters....WRONG!!! Please go to this
>website...... www.westmoreland-county.org/muexhtml and you can
>read about Morgan Jones, a 17th Century potter from my neck of the
>woods.....Westmoreland County, VA. Muesum in Montross has an
>exhibit of his work. About 80 miles southeast of DC on the Potomac
>River which runs into the Chesapeake Bay.
>
>And down the river or I should say, if one crosses over to a nearby
>peninsula, they will come to Yorktown, VA where archaelogists
>uncovered a kiln a couple of years ago that they believed to be the
>first one on the east coast. Yorktown, being on the York river...a
>hop,skip and jump from Williamsburg. Yorktown is also a bit
>upstream and over from the James River as in Jamestown, soon to
>celebrate its 400th anniverisary. Yes, there were potters, maybe
>they thought better than to advertise their wares to others, but
>there were those who did indeed produce.......geez... now I am
>homesick for the river!!!
>
>Hope this helps!!!
>
>P.S. More historical stuff: George Washington's birthplace is
>called Wakefield located in Westmoreland County, Stratford Hall -
>birthplace of Robert E. Lee, and Monroe Bay - home of James Monroe
>also in Westmoreland county...take the kids over for a visit one
>day....cross the "301" bridge in southern Md and you are in
>"Historyland" or the Northen Neck of VA( as the tourist people call
>it) in about 20 minutes or so.
>
>Beth who now resides in the foothills of VA.....but still has the
>river flowing in her veins...
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