A Possible Whately, Massachusetts Red Earthenware Teapot Recovered in New York City

Thomas Crafts (1781-1861) owned and operated a pottery in Whately, Massachusetts in the nineteenth century that produced both red earthenware and stoneware. Although, he might be best known today for the black-glazed teapots that his pottery produced during the circa 1821-1833 period.

It has been published that Crafts manufactured as many as 2,067 dozen teapots annually, and they were sold at a wholesale price of $1.00 per dozen. There are even reports that suggest some of the teapots from the Crafts Pottery were exported to New York City.

The Crafts Pottery teapots have also been recovered from various archaeological contexts - for instance, Anthony Butera wrote about a teapot that had been discovered in a hearth of the circa 1820 Cowan stone house in Delaware County, New York for the 2011 issue of Ceramics in America. But I have also studied examples that appear to have originated in Whately uncovered in Salem, Massachusetts, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Berwick, Maine and Yarmouth, Maine.

However, I recently learned about another teapot that appears like production from the Crafts Pottery that was recovered by archaeologists in 1979-80 within a nineteenth century context at Stadt Huys Block in New York City. According to the New York City Archaeological Repository, "The block was the location of New York City's first hall, Stadt Huys (71 Pearl Street), dating from the Dutch Colonial period. While excavations did not reveal any evidence of the Stadt Huys building, researchers did discover the remains of the Lovelace Tavern. Sir Francis Lovelace (ca. 1621-1675), New York City's second English governor, built the tavern in 1670 and it served as an interim town hall after the Stadt Huys fell out of use. The finds from this site make up one of the oldest continuously occupied sites in New York City."

Black-Glazed Teapot Recovered in New York City

19th Century Black-Glazed Red Earthenware Teapot

Possibly Made at the Thomas Crafts Pottery in Whately, Mass.

Possibly Circa 1821-1833

See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: New York City Archaeological Repository

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