In 2001, Ivor Noel-Hume's book, "If These Pots Could Talk: Collecting 2,000 Years of Household Pottery" was published. Pardon me if I borrow his idea, but imagine if these boxes could talk!?
You are looking at a small area of the large room that only houses the artifacts excavated from Charlestown during the Big Dig in the 1980s - which is at the Boston Archaeological Department's West Roxbury, Massachusetts library and storage facility.
These boxes not only tell the story of the 18th century Charlestown pottery industry, but they account for what lives were like in 18th century Boston. It tells the story of the hopes, dreams and prosperity that people thrived for in the early years of Boston and in the colony. It chronicles it all. It's the Bostonian history and heritage sitting in this storage facility.
Homes were destroyed and burned during the American Revolution - there are remains from the entire revolt. It tells the struggles, determination, rebellion and aspiration that went on during that Revolution.
In these boxes there are cannon balls that were fired during the Revolution that crashed into the roofs of nearby homes, falling through floor after floor until meeting the basement. They had been lost in time until they were recovered some twenty-five or so years ago. I can only begin to imagine the story that these boxes are going to tell in time.
While working with Joseph Bagley (Boston City Archaeologist) yesterday we opened some of the stored boxes in the Charlestown room - and before I tease you with some of the pictures let me tell you what I know so far about the 18th century Charlestown pottery industry.
James Kettle is one of the earliest known potters in this country's history. He is known as primarily a very early Salem, Massachusetts potter. In the later years of his life he worked in Charlestown, that being the turn of the 18th century through around 1710. The Kettle Family is actually a Charlestown family of potters - which included Samuel and Richard. They all worked around the same period - all of which was within the first half of the 18th century.
Many of the working potters of Charlestown were alone in their trade. It did not run in the family like it did with the Kettle's and later pottery families of New England. There were a few father and son potters, but that's about as far as it got. There are more than forty known potters; the majority of which who worked in redware. The stoneware industry in Charlestown blossomed more-so towards the latter half of the 18th century with the likes of Frederick Carpenter, Jonathan Fenton and the Edmonds Stoneware Pottery Factory.
While we have not yet begun to study the pottery artifacts that resides in the Charlestown room - it is known that seven kilns were recovered. From these kilns the remains of the Town Dock Pottery, Parker-Harris Pottery and Ingalls-Penney Pottery are within the recovered material.
The next time you are driving into the tunnel along Route 1 heading north out of Boston under the Tobin Briddge - imagine the industry and culture that these potters were a part of that once thrived in the area. This industry being located along the prosperous shores of Charlestown.
As you enter that tunnel - just above your head was the Parker-Harris home - and I'm assume the pottery as well. Within the Boston Archaeological Department there are roughly 125 pieces of kiln furniture that were recovered from this site - along with countless amounts of pottery.
While we are not yet ready to attribute anything to any of dozens of potters - I will share some sample images of some of the remarkable pottery that has been saved - and maybe it can begin to paint a portrait or picture in your mind as to what the pottery of Charlestown looked like in its beauty. Let me add that the best pieces are still to come.
These examples were all found in privies. I believe it all to be Charlestown made pottery. Preliminary study has been conducted on this pottery, however due to new research, a thorough re-examination is planned, which will hopefully reveal the full breadth and depth of the Charlestown redware industry. The best examples we have to go by are what have been salvaged and placed back together from area privies, many of which may have been made in Charlestown, however direct association is still preliminary.
Redware chamber pots are interesting as they died out quite a bit towards the turn of the 19th century. The Bayley Family of potters made many chamber pots north of Charlestown in Newburyport. Lura Woodside Watkins excavated many of them in her studies - and like the Big Dig, the only reason the Bayley site was excavated was due to Route 1 being placed right through the center of Newburyport. The chamber pots from the Bayley site were similar in size, form and decoration.
This mug is similar in form as to what you may see from English potters during this same time period. I have no doubt that it was made in Charlestown. It is colorful in glaze and the skill is wonderful. There are a few of these mugs in collections in New England that were always believed to be 18th century English-styles, but I believe they are all Charlestown made.
Here is a nicely slip decorated dish. Much like in Newburyport with the Bayley's - there was a lot of slip decoration in the small amount of shards that I have been able to examine.
This is a very early flower pot. It is perfect in form and size and shares similar characteristics to those of Essex County of the same period. It is glazed only on the inside.
I was amazed with this early stonware chamber pot. I have never handled a piece of stoneware that was this thinly potted. A thinly potted jar, jug, dish...anything - shows the skilled hands of an extremely accomplished potter.
This is a milk pan that I'm not 100 percent sure is Charlestown made - the proof will be in the shards.
I am very curious to know if I will find any of these shards in my studies. This is an early Dorchester, Massachusetts made marbleized dish. There are very few known to exist.
I am also hopeful that we will find a type of pottery that was briefly made in Boston around 1760 to rival and mimic that made by Thomas Whieldon in England. The wares are described as tortoise shell glazes in a few advertisements from area records. There are no known survivors or shards from this company. The company's wares are only known to have been experimental.
There is so much more to come. It is not only going be an interesting study of the overall Charlestown Pottery industry, but also to compare it to the dozens and dozens of potters that were working on Boston's North Shore - and to a lesser degree the South Shore during this same period will be fascinating.
Stay tuned....
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