An 18th Century Red Earthenware Pan Recovered at the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson Site in North Carolina

It seems to have been well-documented in the past few years that pottery from the industry in Charlestown, Massachusetts was exported throughout coastal New England and even into parts of Canada in the eighteenth century. Whereas, I have read that some eighteenth century red earthenware may have even been shipped from Charlestown to the southern colonies, such as South Carolina before the American Revolution, but I have never seen any evidence of such trade.

Earlier today, I learned about the following eighteenth century slip-decorated red earthenware pan that was recovered by archaeologists near Wilmington, North Carolina. It was discovered at the eighteenth and nineteenth century location of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson and it is currently on display at this historic site.

According to North Carolina Historic Sites, "In 1725, Colonel Maurice Moore of Tuscarora and Yamasee War fame, was granted 1,500 acres of land in the Lower Cape Fear Region. Moore used 320 of those acres, together with another 20 acres from his brother Roger Moore, to create half-acre lots to make up the town of Brunswick. The first lots sold in 1726 to Moore family friend Cornelius Harnett. The name 'Brunswick' was meant to honor England's King George I, who hailed from the German house of Hanover-Brunswick. In 1729, New Hanover Precinct was established, with Brunswick as its seat of government. In 1731, Brunswick was made the official Port of Entry for all shipping in the Lower Cape Fear Region.

This area would rise to become a major pre-Revolutionary port on North Carolina's Cape Fear River. The port was a bustling shipping area for exporting tar, pitch and turpentine. These products, derived from the resin of the longleaf pine, were known collectively as naval stores. This "sticky gold" was essential for building and maintaining the great wooden sailing ships of the Royal Navy and the merchant fleet that sailed the oceans between Europe, its American colonies, and the islands of the Caribbean. 

Brunswick was razed by British troops in 1776 and never rebuilt. Some reports indicate that much of the town was burned during this raid. By the end of the Revolutionary War, families and merchants had moved to other locations. During the Civil War, Fort Anderson was constructed atop of the old village site, and served as part of the Cape Fear River defenses below Wilmington before the fall of the confederacy."

This pan is described by North Carolina Historic Sites as having possibly been made by the Moravians in North Carolina. However, the style of the slip-decoration also closely resembles a style of slip, which was produced at the industry in Charlestown before 1775. This type of slip is probably most prominent by what is known about the red earthenware made in Charlestown on a pan that was recovered by archaeologists from an eighteenth century privy at the original site of the Three Cranes Tavern.

But I also wrote about a similar style of slip that I recovered a few years back in Essex County, Massachusetts, which is thought to have been manufactured at the industry in Peabody (formerly South Danvers), Massachusetts. I wrote about these sherds in an article that was just published in the November 2017 edition of the New England Antiques Journal, titled, "Digging into the Peabody Potteries: Archaeology and Red Earthenware." Interestingly, some of the potters in Peabody were also partially influenced by the industry in Charlestown in the 1700s.

Red Earthenware Pan Recovered at the Site of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson in NC

18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pan

Recovered at the Site of Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson in North Carolina

Similar Styles of Slip were Produced in Massachusetts in the 1700s

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Charles LeCount, Deputy Director of North Carolina Division of State Historic Sites and Properties

Red Earthenware Pan Recovered in Charlestown, Mass.

18th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Pan

Recovered from a Privy at the Site of the Three Cranes Tavern in Charlestown, Mass.

Believe to have Been Made at the Industry in Charlestown Before 1775

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Department - West Roxbury, Mass.

Another View of the Pan

Photo Courtesy: Boston Archaeology Department - West Roxbury, Mass.

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