Limington Village, Maine - A Possible Early Stoneware Maker?

Limington Village, Maine Pottery - Report 1

There appears to be a great deal of excitement towards the potential idea of archaeological findings on Maine antique dealer, Bill Kelly's eighteenth-century property in Limington Village, Maine. The vast majority of artifacts are redware sherds, but that's not all.

I am personally fascinated at the idea of introducing a new potter to the short list of already known talented potters who worked in Maine's Saco River region. It is believe that this list should be much longer than it is, but there is real lack of understanding towards who this group of small shop potters were. The area's talent is already abundant in skill, form and glaze - however, I would like to see its utilitarian legend expand.

Maine and Massachusetts (resides) redware collector, Mark Chaplin, Ph.D. - told me over the weekend, "It seems like every town in Maine had some local pottery, but we only know about the ones that lasted more than a decade. Most of the course redware (seen with a lack of attribution found in Maine) was used in the dairy industry and for home use before other alternatives like metal were affordable."

The two photos below - easily define the abundance of redware artifacts hidden beneath Bill Kelly's Limington Village property. The hole was dug for a tree that will eventually be planted.

Hole Dug for New Tree

 Redware Sherds Easily Found When Digging Tree Hole

The Property is Covered in Them

Martin Crafts is the first known potter to manufacture stoneware in the state of Maine. He did so around 1834 or 1835 in Portland. Many followed in Gardiner, Farmingdale, Portland and Bangor, but Crafts was the pioneer potter who first introduced the utilitarian ware. Crafts work was short-lived in Portland, but stoneware production in the maritime community continued for decades. In fact, the Portland Stoneware Company is still in business today. Both Albany and salt glazed products were produced in Maine.

The state's clay beds were not suitable for proper stoneware production so clays had to be shipped from New Jersey and New York - which added an extra cost that stoneware potters from other American regions did not experience.

The stoneware industry became most-successful in the latter years of the nineteenth-century when redware had all, but disappeared from the marketplace in Maine. Known forms include ovoid shaped jugs, straight sided jugs, double handled lidded jars, open mouth lidded jars, lidded storage jars, teapots, bean pots, pitchers, oyster jars, garden ornaments, butter churns and butter pots. The later nineteenth-century potters working in Portland are especially known for producing stoneware for local merchants with their names prominently displayed on the jar.

Maine Made Ovoid Stoneware Jugs - 19th Century

Photo Courtesy: Tim Gould Auctions - Smithfield, Me

Known Maine decorative styles include - a decorative painted gallon (size) number; drawn and incised flower motifs; folk art motifs; birds; drawn and incised cows; fern leafs and feathers designs; and eagles. The styles were either incised - or drawn in a cobalt blue or brown decoration.

As part of the sample findings on Bill Kelly's property were salt-glazed stoneware sherds. The study sample below is only 3/16 of an inch thick - which seems unusual for stoneware produced in Northern New England. It was found amongst the redware sherds, wasters and kiln furniture in the front yard of his property - take a look.

Stoneware Sherd Found in Limington, Village, Me

Site dates to Early 1790s

Thickness: 3/16 of an Inch

Interior of Stoneware Sherd Found in Limington Village, Me

It Has Been Left Unglazed

It is very interesting seeing the inner part of the stoneware sherd left unglazed. The lack of interior glaze likely means the form may have at one time served a use exclusively for dry goods. The absence of glaze left the inside of the stoneware porous and basically useless with any type of liquid substance. It seems rather unusual to me. Most American stoneware is entirely glazed inside and out - and top to bottom. Maybe this was some-kind of experiment?

Additionally, the stoneware sherd seems awfully thin. It is in my opinion that this thickness is more of what is expected of the earlier Connecticut makers - such as eighteenth-century potter Abraham Mead of Greenwich, Connecticut and the many early New Haven, Connecticut potters.

New Haven, Ct Stoneware Gemel

Early 19th Century

Sold: $24,725 in 2009

Photo Courtesy: Crocker Farm, Inc - Sparks, Md

Abraham Mead trained under the Dutch-American stoneware potter Adam Staats. Mead was known as the "Deacon Potter" of Greenwich. His work is extremely desirable today and can bring more than $30,000 when sold publicly. 

Abraham Mead Stoneware Jar - Greenwich, Ct

Dated 1791

Photo Courtesy: Brooklyn Museum - Brooklyn, NY

The salt-glaze on the sherd found in Limington Village is similar to what is seen within the Charlestown, Massachusetts makers, but not exact. It can also be compared to the salt-glaze styles used by Martin Crafts in Portland and Nashua, New Hampshire. Crafts was also the first stoneware maker in the state of New Hampshire. (I have previously written a report on Martin Crafts stoneware production in Nashua)

Potters in Connecticut typically imported their clays from New York - and more specifically, occasionally the source was Long Island. Martin Crafts is believed to have imported his clay from New York state. The clay source likely helped contribute to the similarities between the Limington Village sherd found - and the Martin Crafts and Connecticut examples. It is assumed the Limington Village stoneware sherd may have been produced from New York clay.

The question becomes - did this possible early nineteenth-century redware potter working in Limington Village make an attempt at a stoneware product? We know that William Pecker (West Amesbury, Ma) was a dominate redware maker who experimented with stoneware - could this be the same with this undocumented Saco River region potter? It would be very interesting to see what else is in Bill Kelly's ground.

William Pecker Stoneware - Ceramics in American Report
William Pecker Stoneware - Justin Thomas Report 

This will be last of the discussion of this site for now. I feel I have made its potential importance obvious. We hope to get a group of archaeologists and the Maine State Museum excited about this potential project and possibly commit to a dig later this year. The idea of this stoneware sherd and its use around the household from an entirely different maker is not out of the question.

My beginning objective is to identify who this potter may have been and the type wares which were produced - stoneware versus redware. I feel my initial report on this property gave a very good idea of the colorful wares which may have been a product at Limington Village.

My end objective with this research (pending results) is to identify an important new, previously unknown potter to the Saco River region of Maine - and find a way to place the results (if important) into publication.

I want to personally know if there are remains of a potter's kiln buried. Most importantly, if this were an experiment at stoneware production - it would likely predate the work of Martin Crafts - making Limington Village the state's first stoneware potter. Fascinating! Stay tuned!

I plan on bringing some Limington Village examples with me to "Dish Camp" in two weeks so people can have a look and possibly get some feedback.

Much more to come...