17th, 18th & 19th Century Earthenware Products of American and European Manufacturers

The Charlestown, Massachusetts archaeology collection keeps a rather interesting collection of very early clay or earthenware pipes. In some instances, the maker or even origin is not known. Clay pipes are seen in colonial contexts from Charleston, South Carolina up through northern parts of Maine. Its not that they are common, but in archaeological contexts, they are not uncommon either. Most earthenware pipes were imported if found within a seventeenth or eighteenth century context.

Kept as part of the Charlestown archaeology collection is a large concentration of red earthenware pipes all found within the same context. All were uncovered at a merchant's home inside the Maudlin Street district. Maudlin Street was apart of the central area of Charlestown. It was kind of like the streets that outlined downtown areas similar to Portland, Maine, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Newburyport, Massachusetts, or Wilmington, North Carolina. The pipes presumably date from the 1640s or 1650s due to where they were found in the ground. The merchant may have picked up the pipes while on travels across the sea. Its rather interesting to see such a large collection of pipes considering all appear to have been used. Similar red earthenware pipes were found on the Isle of Shoals in New Hampshire and attributed to the West Indies; however, similar pipes were also made in Virginia and in the areas that surrounded the Chesapeake Bay.

 Collection of Red Earthenware Pipes and Stems Found in Charlestown, Ma

Maudlin Street Archaeological District

Found at a Merchant's Home

Ca. 1640s & 1650s

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Similar Pipes and Stems Found on the Isle of Shoals in New Hampshire

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 Appears to be a Variety of Possible Makers

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

Probably a Few Hundred Red Earthenware Pipe Shards

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

A large collection of earthenware pipes can been seen throughout the Charlestown collection. Most are from European manufacturers. A pair of objects that really spoke to me were earthenware marbles. Kaolin was a type of clay used mostly for decoration by colonial potters. It was applied to a variety of shapes and forms, which would typically cost more than a common black glaze. Slip decorated wares were usually sold to individuals who were tied to social classes that had the financial means to buy more decorative items, but people with less money sometimes purchased a few pieces of slip decoration only intended for special occasions. The amount of slip decoration in any given household sometimes depended on the individual and family's taste in fashion first - and then it was often based on their class level, whether it was lower, middle or upper class. There are other ideas that also discredit this notion, where slip decorated wares appeared in other areas because that is all that was available from the area's potters. There are lot of theories behind material culture and why what was where. Ideas may prove accurate in some areas - while in others it is discredited. There is a whole detailed discussion that can be had about the history of American slip decorated earthenware.

I recently wrote a report about slip decorated wares. I suggest reading it if you have the time.

Seventeenth and eighteenth century Colonial New England potters did not have a lot of access to kaolin clay from native beds - so it is assumed small amounts were shipped from Europe. Its very interesting to see earthenware marbles made from kaolin clay - considering the toy could have easily been made from the abundant local clays used for red earthenware. I assume they were not sold, but instead made for a child as possibly an end of the day piece with left over clay. I also assume these marbles may have traveled aboard a ship from England with passengers en route to the New World, but if they were made by a Charlestown potter - I wonder why that potter would use kaolin clay, which was not abundant in the Boston area. Kaolin clay probably came at a heavy cost before the American Revolution. Potters who used it were probably successful at their craft and their business.

These clay marbles were found inside a privy at the Three Cranes Tavern with an average date of 1750. The marbles may have been a little earlier or a little later, but the average time-frame of all the artifacts found was 1750.

Earthenware Marbles Found in Charlestown, Ma

City Square Archaeological District

Found in a Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern

Ca. 1750

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

This next photo are a grouping of red earthenware marbles found in Newburyport, Massachusetts. All were either found at 441 Merrimac Street or on the Merrimac River. It is assumed all are tied to eighteenth and nineteenth century New England potters. The glazed marbles may have been made in Vermont.

Glazed and Unglazed Red Earthenware Marbles
Ca. 18th & 19th Centuries
Probably Mostly American-Made
All Found in Newburyport, Ma

The archaeology of the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown revealed five privies or trash pits; four were from the eighteenth century (no later than 1775) and a fifth (the earliest) dates from the seventeenth century. As part of the artifacts found in the earliest privy, were yes, more earthenware pipes. These all date between 1675-1685. I think they are interesting to see due to their early production. They are likely all European-made. Each may have even been produced before the context they were found within.

 17th Century Earthenware Pipe

City Square Archaeological District

Found in a Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern

Ca. 1675-1685

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

 17th Century Earthenware Pipe and Stems

City Square Archaeological District

Found in a Privy at the Three Cranes Tavern

Ca. 1675-1685

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Dept. - West Roxbury, Ma

For comparison - these next two examples are probably from the nineteenth century. The first is an earthenware pipe that shows a devil's head. It was probably made in continental Europe. It may be of French of Swiss origin. It was found on the shores of the Merrimac River in Newburyport, Massachusetts by my father, Richard Thomas in the 1970s. How a French or Swiss-made clay pipe made its way overseas into a community dominated by the China Trade in the nineteenth century is fascinating. The possibilities are endless. The clay stem has been broken off.

Earthenware Pipe with the Head of the Devil

Ca. 19th Century

Probably Made in Continental Europe

Found on the Merrimac River in Newburyport, Ma in the 1970s

The second pipe was recently found in a home in Maine. It was most-likely made by the potter, John Tabor of Wells, Maine in the nineteenth century. John Tabor is a well-documented potter, who worked in New Hampshire and Maine producing earthenware pipes for multiple clay types. This particular example would have probably have used a wooden stem while it was smoked. It is an example of Tabor's red earthenware products, which came in dozens of forms.

19th Century Red Earthenware Pipe

Probably Made by John Tabor in Wells, Maine

Found in a Maine Home

Clay pipes are sometimes an overlooked product made by American potters in the seventeenth through the nineteenth centuries, but they were a major product. In cases like John Tabor - the form became a major means of income. The study of clay pipes could be a great research subject. Its my belief there is a lot more to be learned about the American potters who made such a product. Its possible more potters made pipes than some may realize today. Its even possible some very well-known accomplished potters and industries made the product - and those products have never before been identified to that industry or potter.

There is Much More to Come…including: more about the Merrimac Pottery Company, the Battle of Bunker Hill, Beverly, Massachusetts Pottery and a comparison of flower pots found at George Washington's home in Mount Vernon, Virginia to those of eighteenth and nineteenth century Essex County Massachusetts.

Please Stay Tuned!