Another Marbled Red Earthenware Plate Recovered within a Context of Ownership on Long Island

Last week, I posted an article about the remains of a marbled red earthenware plate that was recovered within a historical context of ownership on Shelter Island, which is located on the eastern end of Long Island. There has been a lot of speculation over the years, where these type of marbled red earthenware objects were produced about the late-eighteenth or early-nineteenth century; whereas, those attributions include the Mid-Atlantic region, western New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. However, there has never really been any concrete archaeological evidence to distinguish what may have been made where even though no single potter's business is responsible for every object that is known today.

For example, marbled red earthenware sherds have been recovered at the site of the Nathaniel Rochester Pottery within an early-nineteenth century archaeological context in western New York, but I do not believe there are any known surviving objects today that actually match those sherds. But some of the known surviving marbled red earthenware objects have been attributed to this potter's business merely because they were manufactured with a marbled slip-decoration.

Nevertheless, I strongly believe that Long Island now needs to be considered as a possible location for some of the marbled red earthenware objects that survive today, which is based on the plate that I wrote about last week, and more evidence that I have to present today.

I was contacted yesterday by Gary Hammond, a museum specialist from the Nassau County Museum System, who lives on Long Island after I posted the article last week that examined the remains of the marbled plate recovered on Shelter Island. I was quite surprised and excited to hear that he knew about a very similar marbled red earthenware plate, which was recovered within another context of ownership on Long Island.

This plate was recovered in central Long Island in the 1970s by a group of bottle diggers, who were investigating an old foundation. This reassembled plate is currently privately owned today; although, it is thought that the sherds were recovered in 1977. As far as I can see, this plate is from the same manufacturer as is the potter's business, who produced the plate found on Shelter Island.

This type of marbled decoration could have been produced in the nineteenth century at the Huntington Pottery located in central Long Island; although, this business has been carefully dug on a number of occasions and I don't believe this type of production has been recovered.

But this style of production could have also taken place at the Hempstead/Osborn Pottery in Greenport, which operated throughout the 1800s near Shelter Island on Long Island's eastern end. This is also a potter's business that is known to have produced a variety of slip-decoration, even though not a lot is known about this company's total production today.

It is written in the book, 'Useful Art: Long Island Pottery,' "The first documented pottery established on the East End was setup in the village of Greenport, beginning a family enterprise that lasted for nearly a half-century. Austin Hempstead and Samuel Osborn established a pottery works around 1819. The pottery, which was located on Sterling Lane, faced Sterling Harbor, the lesser of the two harbors in Greenport. In the same year, Hempstead and Osborn began to buy loads of clay from local beds in Arshamomoque. While the partnership continued in business into the 1830s, little information was found about the company. Sometime in that decade, Austin Hempstead also became the sole owner of the pottery.

In the late 1870s, the Hempstead family, as well as John and Philip Klipp operated separate potteries in Greenport. The Hempstead Pottery continued to produce red earthenware until the 1890s; in competition, the Klipp Pottery was also in business, but these businesses did not really last past 1900.

In 1981, an archaeological investigation of the Greenport pottery site was undertaken by archaeologists from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. The archaeology team dug ten test holes designed to locate the pottery. These test holes revealed that remains of the pottery works had been destroyed by residential construction and shoreline extension. Despite these problems, the team excavated a substantial number of red earthenware rim sherds similar to a documented Hempstead flower pot."

Note: I own a marbled red earthenware plate that fortunately survives today, which may be related to these artifacts that have been recovered on Long Island. I will try to post an article about the plate tomorrow.

Marbled Plate Recovered on Long Island

Late-18th or 19th Century Marbled Red Earthenware Plate

Recovered from a Foundation Hole in Central Long Island in the 1970s

Very-Possibly Made on Long Island

Appears to be the Same Maker as a Similar Plate that was Recovered on Shelter Island

See Article for More Information

Photo Courtesy: Gary Hammond - Long Island

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...