EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: 19th Century Red Earthenware Pot Owned by the Meredith, New Hampshire Historical Society

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

19th Century Red Earthenware Pot Owned by the Meredith, New Hampshire Historical Society

Last weekend, while visiting the Lakes Region and the White Mountain National Forest in New Hampshire, I stopped at the Meredith, New Hampshire Historical Society, in order to see a piece of red earthenware in the museum's collection. The handled pot is not attributed to a specific pottery, but it is thought to have been locally made; although, it may have been made by Joshua W. Burpee (d. 1839) who operated a red earthenware pottery in Meredith during the circa 1800-1839 period.

The pot was gifted to the historical society on November 3, 1953 by William Neal, who lived in Meredith and the pot had reportedly descended in his family. The pot also retains an old wooden lid, which is believed to have been made as a replacement lid for when the original red earthenware lid was likely lost or broken.

According to Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "There are vague accounts of several potteries in the region around Lake Winnipesaukee. At Gilford, once a part of Gilmanton, Nathaniel Goodhue was running a shop about 1830. Duane Hamilton Hurd's 'History of Belknap County' says that he carried on the business for many years and that he got his clay from The Weirs. Goodhue advertised it for sale in the New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazetteer, March 1, 1833, describing it as a "large pottery for making earthenware and a good kiln on same." He was apparently succeeded by Charles Stark, who four years later "contemplating a removal from Gilford," offered for sale a "shop, kiln, and apparatus for the manufacture of brown ware."

Cornelius Weygandt, in the White Hills has noted a potter named Bennett in Moultonborough and the existence of a pottery in New Durham, near Alton. In November Rowen, the same author describes a quart mug tooled with lines marked "old Cider" that he found in Meredith. He notes its resemblance to pieces from the Gill Pottery. The mug could, however, have been made in Meredith.

During the excavation of a cellar under the house of H.B. Twombley on Plymouth Street in Meredith, setting tiles and other examples of kiln furniture were unearthed. For several years Mr. Twombley did not know the significance of these curious baked clay objects and he was greatly surprised to learn that his house stood directly over a potter's dump. The circumstance was explained by the fact that the house had been moved from another site to its present location. A perusal of Meredith history reveals that Joshua W. Burpee, eldest son of Jeremiah (1781-1862) from Boscowan, New Hampshire, lived in Meredith for about nine years preceding his death in 1839. It is more than likely he was responsible for the waste pile.

Another craftsman of the 1830s, Jeremiah Bean, worked in Bristol. He was a native of the town and was twenty-seven years old when he started his potworks on Hemlock Brook. The business was short-lived, as Bean soon removed to Boston, dying there in 1834."

Red Earthenware Pot Owned by the Meredith, NH Historical Society

19th Century Red Earthenware Handled Pot

Retains a Long History of Ownership in Meredith, NH

Likely Made in the Lake Winnepesaukee Region in New Hampshire

Possibly Made by Joshua W. Burpee in Meredith, NH

Burpee Operated a Pottery in Meredith Circa 1800-1839