The Possible Partial Remains of a Danvers(port), South Danvers or Salem, Ma Potter - The Study of Early Essex County Potters: Report 4

The Osborn's - Report 1
The Goldthwaites' - Report 2
The Southwick's - Report 3

"For two centuries the name of Danvers has been associated with pottery making. At least one hundred natives of the town were clayworkers, and their shops and kilns lined the streets. They were perhaps most numerous in the Revolutionary period...soon after the establishment of the Danvers industry - Nathaniel Symonds started a family enterprise in the Northfield section of Salem. This district, midway between Salem and Danversport was the site of the clay beds. Symonds acquired land and a homestead there by gift and inheritance, and the family worked in that location for nearly one hundred years." (Lura Woodside Watkins, Early New England Potters and Their Wares)

In my continued study of the redware communities of early South Danvers (today Peabody), Danvers and Salem, Massachusetts - I have stumbled upon an area that may hold the remains of a possible potters site in Danversport, Massachusetts - a small maritime community that is associated with Danvers. Danversport is near the location of the Symonds family site that Lura Woodside Watkins writes of in her book, "Early New England Potters and Their Wares."

All the sherds I have discovered seem to have gathered within a strong concentrated area near and along the shores of the Waters River. The river likely served a number of area needs - which included a source of clay for the dozens of potters who worked about a mile away in South Danvers and Salem. There has not been much information associated with any sort of early industry in Danvers - despite the town's earth supplying a major source of clay needs. The North River also  provided a great source of clay near the Salem and South Danvers line a little further southeast from Danversport. Nearly the entire area's early industry of potters were centrally located between these two rivers.

 Waters River - Danversport, Ma

A Great Deal of Redware Sherds and Some Kiln Material Have Been Found on the River

This Part of the Water's River is Surrounded by Open Fields

 North River - Salem, Ma
Clay Source for the Early 18th and 19th Century Area Potters

North River - Salem, Ma 

A number of kiln bricks are seen and a large amount of sherds have been collected over the years on the river's edge - mixed in with river rocks, seaweed, seashells and additional remaining period household - and architectural waste. The debris is mostly concentrated on one part of the river. It is not currently known if the sherds are mostly trash deposited into the river or if an actual potter worked nearby. The kiln bricks lead me to believe a potter may have worked locally, but the bricks may have gradually moved up or down the river over many years from another location. There is a possibility the bricks are from Salem - which is very close upriver.

The kiln bricks were all found within a close range of no more than fifty feet apart - which leads me to believe the nearby open fields that look down on the river may have possibly served as a location of an early eighteenth or nineteenth century utilitarian potter's kiln.

 Location of Kiln Bricks on the Waters River - Danversport, Ma

 Possibly Where the Bricks Are Coming From
Otherwise, They Are From the River

 More than a Dozen Bricks Resembling this Were Seen - Likely a Kiln Brick

All Likely a Part of an Early Potter's Kiln - or a Massive Fire

Many early potters used rivers that flowed to and from the Atlantic Ocean as a means of transportation to sell their wares. Whoever this possible potter was may have done the same. The Waters River is upriver from Salem - where a small handful of early potters worked. The Symonds family is not far from each. Very little information is known of the family's work.

 Interior Black Glazed Redware Sherd 

Likely an Example of Hollow Ware

Found Near the Kiln Bricks on the Waters River - Danversport, Ma

Interior and Exterior Redware Chamber Pot Sherd

Found Near the Kiln Bricks on the Waters River - Danversport, Ma

From what I have seen - the river sherds are mostly simply decorated utilitarian wares that appear in an eighteenth century texture. The forms, glazes and lack of refinement leads me to believe an eighteenth century manufacturer is possible. I should also add that this is the same location that the slip decorated plate sherd was found - that was written about in the Goldthwaites report last week.

Chambers pots and a number of hollow ware forms are mostly seen - more so than any type of flatware. There are only a small number of ceramics in plain sight and the number of redware sherds easily outnumber those - which is surprising. Most of the seen sherds demonstrate a manufacturing style that is comparable to the early potters of Charlestown, Massachusetts. There appears to be a lack of nineteenth century waste outside of only redware. The redware sherds appear mostly eighteenth century with a number of later terracotta flower pots mixed in - which were likely manufactured nearby at the Moses Paige Pottery in South Danvers.

Could Danversport have served as a location for an early potter or potters to export their wares to? If these redware remains are from the nineteenth century - it would be unlikely with such a strong nearby industry, however if eighteenth century, it may be possible. Its interesting at the least, but the presence of kiln bricks makes it more of question of a who the local potter was rather than seeing any type of imports from outside area potters.

Hopefully there will be more research and information to come about Danversport. There are a number of potters that very little information is known who worked in the South Danvers, Danvers and Salem areas - and this may likely be one of them.

The only question I will ask today is if these remains could belong to the early work of the Symonds family. Otherwise, they may be from an unknown local potter or as part of deposited early waste from area households that bordered the Waters River in a number of local communities with a strong emphasis towards Salem. The location is really open for a number of interpretations at this point with such a number of theories possible.

Stay tuned...