Terracotta Flower Pots of 18th, 19th and 20th Century Massachusetts

Flower pots have been a part of the domestic potter's output for centuries. The desire for flower and vegetable gardening has always created a demand for flower pots. The form dates back thousands of years.

Flower pots were made in eighteenth century Massachusetts - and almost all industries of years past near the Atlantic Ocean and further inland. The form was manufactured by rural potters in Maine and urban potters in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The demand was there no matter the community. Flower pots were made all over Pennsylvania, Virgina and Western New York in the nineteenth century. It was a part of many earthenware cultures in America.

Abraham Hews began a pottery in Weston, Massachusetts of the eighteenth century. Utilitarian redware and flower pots were a part of the business' output. The company grew to such large lengths in later years of the nineteenth century that Hews Pottery had to move closer to Boston and began production in an industrial style fashion. The company moved away from the more traditional hand-turned wares and produced mainly molded pottery and flower pots. The molds allowed Hews Pottery to extend its productivity to much-greater lengths.

I have previously written a report about the Hews Pottery.
Abraham Hews Pottery Report

I recently visited an early home in Essex, Massachusetts where I found more than a dozen small to medium sized early flower pots in the basement. I believe each to be the product of an Essex County, Massachusetts potter. The variety in form leads me to believe a group of potters are likely.

The first four flower pots represents the traditional form made at Moses Paige's Pottery in Peabody, Massachusetts in the latter years of the nineteenth century. Production continued with similar wares into the twentieth century at Paige Pottery.

If you look close enough, you will notice simple characteristics of each flower pot that remains a trend from pot to pot. The Paige Pottery was responsible for a selection of flower pots that ranged from terracotta products to glazed pots with an attached saucer. There were a number of potters who worked and apprenticed at the Paige Pottery. It would likely prove difficult to properly attribute any of the pots to a specific potter beyond the company.

I have previously written a report about flowers pots produced at the Paige Pottery.
Moses Paige Pottery Report

 Likely Moses Paige Pottery - Peabody, Ma

Late 19th Century

Typical Hole Placement for Paige Pottery Flower Pots

I believe this next group of pots were all made at the Paige Pottery, too; however, the drainage hole placement is different than the normally expected centered position - usually seen from the Peabody business. It is possible these were made in Peabody, but a different nearby manufacturer may be responsible - or a different potter at the same business. 

Charles Lawrence's business in Beverly, Massachusetts also manufactured terraccotta flower pots. Lawrence trained together with Moses Paige in Peabody. It is possible that each potter manufactured a similar form. 

I have previously written a report about Charles Lawrrence's Beverly factory.

Charles Lawrence Pottery Report

 Likely Moses Paige Pottery - Peabody, Ma
Possibly Another Essex County Potter

Late 19th Century

The Hole Placement Is Unusual for Moses Paige Pottery Flower Pots

The next group of three flower pots are very similar to a larger form I have previously seen at the National Parks Services Archaeology Collection at the Narbonne House in Salem, Massachusetts. The manufacturing style and overall form of each are very similar. The context at the Narbonne House was an early nineteenth century area. I suspect all were made by the same Essex County potter. It is not known who this potter may have been. It may be an unidentified potter who only made simpler forms with little decoration in Essex County.

 Likely An Essex County, Ma Potter

Early 19th Century

Nicely Hand Turned Flower Pots

This small flower pot reminds me of a wonderfully decorated flower pot in the Narbonne House collection. Both appear to have a similar manufacturing technique when the interior of each pot is examined. I personally feel this small pot is eighteenth century and possibly locally made. I have no idea who the manufacturer may have been. 

I wrote about the wonderfully decorated and nicely preserved eighteenth century flower pot from the Narbonne House in a report last week.

18th Century Essex County Flower Pot Report

 Essex County Flower Pot 

Possibly 18th Century

18th Century Flower Pots Were Often Thickly Potted

These two pots are classic molded forms that were used in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - and in-fact, the form is still very-much in use today. Each was found on the shore of the North River in Danversport, Massachusetts. Both may be from a local Danvers or Peabody potter - or a chance they may have been made at the later Hews Pottery.

 Found On the Shoreline in Danversport, Ma

Molded Flower Pots

19th or 20th Century
Possibly a Local Essex County Manufacturer

When stoneware phased out much of the need for redware - many of the redware utilitarian potters in the nineteenth century transformed their business outputs with products that still reached a demand in the marketplace to stay relevant. Flower pots became a major product in some coastal Massachusetts businesses. The form may have acted as an offset towards products that sold in smaller quantities. The industry eventually turned towards art pottery near the end of the 1800s. Art pottery became a major focus in the early to middle years of the twentieth century; however, potters like Moses Paige remained an active and successful company - working alongside the potters of the art pottery movement with a strong marketplace of buyers. Clients included local florists and nearby gardeners who demanded a need for flower pots. The demand by greenhouses also kept a strong marketplace for terracotta flower pots.

Much more to come...