EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: An Exciting Discovery of an Example of 18th Century Red Earthenware Found in Nova Scotia with Ties to Charlestown, Massachusetts

Monday, February 22, 2016

An Exciting Discovery of an Example of 18th Century Red Earthenware Found in Nova Scotia with Ties to Charlestown, Massachusetts

Noted earlier today, archaeological evidence has proven that slip decorated red earthenware was exported into Canada from the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company (circa 1766-1799) in the late-1760's and the early-1770's. However, there is also evidence that supports the idea that the Daniel Bayley Pottery also exported red earthenware into Salem, Massachusetts, Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Portland, Maine before 1775.

I have always felt that the Bayley Pottery took notice of the success that the potters achieved a few miles to the south in Charlestown, Massachusetts before 1775. Daniel Bayley was also a businessman involved with writing and printing religious sheet music in the 1760's and the 1770's. It makes sense that he was also involved with businessmen elsewhere in New England and Canada.

According to the curator of the New Brunswick Museum, Peter Larocque, "The pan (see below) attributed to Daniel Bayley Pottery of Newbury(port), Massachusetts was uncovered during an archaeological dig in 1955-1956 at Portland Point within the city limits of Saint John, New Brunswick. The site was where Massachusetts businessmen, 'Simonds, Hazen and White,' setup a trading post in the 1760's."

Map Showing the Distance Between Newburyport, MA and Saint John, NB

This is Approximately a 370 Mile Drive Today

Photo Courtesy: MapQuest

Daniel Bayley Pottery Co. Attributed Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Dish - Newburyport, MA
Recovered in Saint John, NB in the Mid-1950's
Stands 3 1/8" Tall

Measures 14 1/8" in Diameter
Ca. Late 1760's or Early 1770's
Photo Courtesy: Peter Larocque, New Brunswick Museum - Saint John, NB

I asked Mr. Larocque whether this pan was an obscurity - or, if there was a possibility that products from the Bayley Pottery were exported into Canada - his reply was fascinating; "It is unclear whether this was an item for sale or in use at the trading post. By the late 1770's, there was a small town growing up around the trading post and the newly erected Fort Howe nearby. My suspicions are that since the principals in the company were from or near Newbury(port) it is likely that the material did come from there. Some of the company's ledgers exist in various collections locally, but I have not examined them personally. I would say that it is not an obscurity - and, that Bayley's Pottery was imported here on an intermittent basis in those early years in the late-1760's and the eary-1770's."

In theory, I have always felt that the eighteenth-century potter's industry in Charlestown, Massachusetts was built around an export trade - my thought is that this export business grew as the industry expanded its production in the eighteenth-century. As the year's passed - the industry's production grew before it was somewhat unexpectedly burned at the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775.

For example, there is documented evidence that the Parker family pottery (circa 1717-1750's) exported its wares into Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the late-1740's and the early-1750's. However, I've always thought that this was a small sample of what the potter's in Charlestown achieved elsewhere in New England. Ultimately, this was New England's focal potter's industry until businesses and industries spread elsewhere after the American Revolution. Unfortunately, there just is not enough surviving artifacts or properly identified evidence to support this claim. But, I truly believe this is what happened on some level in the eighteenth-century. (I'm sure there is more evidence out there - it's just a matter of studying amateur and professional archaeology past, present and future.)

In recently weeks, I have been trying to purchase all of the obscure and commercially published books on Canadian-made pottery from the twentieth-century. The book, 'Early Slip-Decorated Pottery in Canada' by Donald B. Webster arrived today - it was published in 1969.

I was shocked when I turned to page 10 to see a slip decorated red earthenware object that was identified as an "Early eighteenth century French-made chamber pot that was excavated from the Fortress of Louisbourg in Louisbourg, Nova Scotia."

Note: This attribution was made before 1969, which was years before the Charlestown, Massachusetts potter's industry was excavated on behalf of Boston's infamous Big Dig Project. Previously, the potter's industry in Charlestown had been partially forgotten until it was rediscovered in the 1980's. It was known that there was a major industry; although, how the production appeared was buried beneath the earth. Thankfully, this was a positive outcome of the Big Dig.

The chamber pot that was excavated at the Fortress of Louisbourg is undoubtedly a product of the Charlestown, Massachusetts potter's industry. Similar slip decorated products were excavated at the Parker family pottery in a pre-1760 archaeological context - and, related slip decorated products were also excavated from an eighteenth-century privy at the site of the Three Cranes Tavern in the center of Charlestown, which was originally built as the Great House for Governor John Winthrop in the seventeenth-century.

Map Showing the Distance Between Charlestown, MA and Louisbourg, NS

This is Approximately a 840 Mile Drive Today

Photo Courtesy: MapQuest

I've indicated in the past that this type of export business would have revolved around pre-American Revolution military forts, newly established communities, maritime cities and merchants. The chamber pot, which was excavated in Nova Scotia was recovered at a pre-American Revolution military fort, which would have needed supplies. It seems that some of the utilitarian pottery supplies at Fort Louisbourg may have come from Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Chamber Pot Recovered in Nova Scotia

Early-to-Mid-18th Century Chamber Pot Recovered at Fort Louisbourg in Nova Scotia

This is a Known Charlestown, Mass. Type of Slip Decoration (See Examples Below)

This Object May Represent an Export System from Charlestown, Mass. Into Canada

Circa 1720-1750

Photo Courtesy: 'Early Slip-Decorated Pottery in Canada,' Donald B. Webster, 1969

Closer Look at the Chamber Pot

Photo Courtesy: 'Early Slip-Decorated Pottery in Canada,' Donald B. Webster, 1969

View of the Description

Photo Courtesy: 'Early Slip-Decorated Pottery in Canada,' Donald B. Webster, 1969

View of the Description

Photo Courtesy: 'Early Slip-Decorated Pottery in Canada,' Donald B. Webster, 1969

Chamber Pot and Sherd Recovered in Charlestown, Mass.