The Snow Hill Community never grew to be very large. It expanded from the original five members to 15 by 1830, and perhaps twice that many by 1845. Despite its small numbers, the community prospered for decades as members engaged in the production and sale of grain, textiles, barrels, brooms, furniture, and pottery. They also practiced the artistic calligraphy called fraktur and sang in the style of the famous Ephrata choir.
Members of the Snow Hill community continued composing and singing hymns in the Ephrata tradition until 1872, when the society dwindled to eight sisters and eight brothers. The society itself came to an end in 1899, and the last celibate brother at Snow Hill, Obed Snowberger, died in 1895."
While I visited the Renfrew Museum last week in Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, I saw an entire room on the second floor of the Royer-Nicodemus House decorated with objects acquired directly from the Snow Hill Community, when the contents of the society were sold in the late-twentieth century.
In an article written in 1997 by Lita Solis-Cohen for Maine Antique Digest, titled, Contents of Snow Hill Nunnery Bowls Them Over, "One of the most interesting sales this summer was held at the auction gallery of Horst Auction Center in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. The contents of the Snow Hill Nunnery were sold.
Clarence Spoon, who cataloged the sale, said, "The buildings, dating from 1814 through 1830 housed the celibate brothers and sisters and the married congregation. The last celibate died in 1895 and things remained untouched until now. It is a time capsule. Most of the furniture was made there in the cabinet shop, and everything is in as-found condition, much of it paint decorated. There is an adult-sized cradle used for an elderly blind sister. Linens include homespun chaff bags and sheets and pillow covers with initials on them so the owners can be identified. Imagine finding forty matching slip-decorated redware serving bowls in fine condition made at John Bell's (1800-1880) pottery in Waynesboro. The bowls were used to serve stew during a ritual love feast by the German Seventh Day Baptist nuns and monks in the nineteenth-century. There were also several pieces of redware stamped by John Bell that were also included in the sale.
With the help of my sister-in-law, it took me from February (1997) until June (1997) to clean the mud wasps from the drawers of chests, remove bird dirt from the benches, and rescue a few rye straw baskets. Two groundhogs chewed the bottoms out of most of them. We dumped the chaff out of the bed ticks and discarded as many textiles as we saved because they had been gnawed on by rodents."
Two of the slip-decorated serving bowls made at the Bell Pottery for the Snow Hill Society are on display in another room on the second floor of the Royer-Nicodemus House, which the museum acquired at the sale in 1997. But I also found it interesting to see two other examples of red earthenware from the Snow Hill Society on display, although it is unknown whether these objects were made at the nunnery or if they were manufactured by one of the potters employed in nearby Waynesboro.
Snow Hill Society Red Earthenware Bowls Made at John Bell's Pottery
(Left) 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Bowl from the Snow Hill Society
Made at the John Bell Pottery in Waynesboro, PA
Circa 1840
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Renfrew Museum
Another 19th Century Slip-Decorated Red Earthenware Bowl from the Snow Hill Society
Made at the John Bell Pottery in Waynesboro, PA
Circa 1840
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Renfrew Museum
Other Examples of Red Earthenware from the Snow Hill Society
(Left) Large 19th Century Red Earthenware Jar
Possibly Made at the Snow Hill Society or Otherwise Made in Nearby Waynesboro, PA
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Renfrew Museum
19th Century Red Earthenware Roach Trap
Possibly Made at the Snow Hill Society or Otherwise Made in Nearby Waynesboro, PA
See Article for More Information
Photo Courtesy: Renfrew Museum
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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