Colonoware: A 17th-19th Century Type of Production Found Along the Coast of the American South

Another style of domestic utilitarian pottery production that I have read about, but never witnessed until recently is a type of earthenware called "colonoware," which was manufactured in South Carolina, and has been recovered along the coast of the American South in seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century contexts. However, while on vacation a few weeks ago, I was actually able to study two examples on display at the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.

This type of production really caught my attention in November 2017 at a sale by Slotin Folk Art Auction in Gainesville, Georgia, where the contents of The Acacia Collection and the Old Slave Mart Museum were sold, which included four lots of eighteenth century colonoware found in South Carolina.

According to the Charleston City Paper, "Before the American Civil War, Charleston, South Carolina served as the hub for the slave trade. The Old Slave Mart was used as an auction gallery where enslaved people were sold throughout the 1850s. In 1938, the property was purchased by Miriam B. Wilson (1879-1959), who turned the site into a museum of African-American history, arts and crafts. Later Carroll Greene (1932-2007), curator, Smithsonian Fellow and African-American art specialist, combined the important works of the Acacia Collection with the Old Slave Mart inventory to expand the African-American story told by the museum."

Understandably, it was exciting to see these objects on display at Colonial Williamsburg; this isn't a type of production that I have ever seen nor encountered in New England.

According to Colonial Williamsburg, "While European ceramic history is well-documented, the story of the unglazed, low-fired earthenware known as colonoware is elusive. Found regularly on seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century urban and rural archaeology sites throughout the coastal South, colonoware has attributes that are similar to both Native American ceramics and those made in West Africa. It may well have been produced by potters from both cultures living in South Carolina, not only for their own use, but also for sale to settlers of European extraction. Simple vessel forms include cooking pots, chamber pots, cups, bowls, and others - and more decorative objects are occasionally seen, as well"

The first object that I posted below, a colonoware cooking pot was recovered from Drayton Hall in South Carolina within a circa 1740 archaeological context. Drayton Hall was an eighteenth century plantation located about 15 miles northwest of Charleston, South Carolina. The second object, a chamber pot was excavated from the site of Henry Wetherburn's Colonial tavern within a circa 1720-1760 archaeological context in Williamsburg, Virginia.

Colonoware Recovered in South Carolina and Virginia

18th Century Colonoware Earthenware Cooking Pot

Excavated from Drayton Hall in South Carolina

Circa 1740

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Photo Courtesy: Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

Information on Display with the Cooking Pot

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Photo Courtesy: Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

18th Century Colonoware Earthenware Chamber Pot

Excavated from the Wetherburn's Tavern Site in Williamsburg, VA

Circa 1720-1760

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Photo Courtesy: Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

Information on Display with the Chamber Pot

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Photo Courtesy: Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg

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