19th Century Red Earthenware Pipe Found in Central New Hampshire Retaining a Pewter Lid and Stem

According to Massachusetts author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "Besides the potteries for the manufacture of household utensils in New Hampshire, there was in East Alton near the Wolfeboro line a factory that made nothing but red earthenware (it has been discovered since Watkins' book was published that they also produced kaolin) tobacco pipes. This establishment was begun in 1864 by one John Taber (1829-1912), who was not a native of the town. 

Taber bought land from Enos Rollins and put up a sizable building near Lake Winnipesaukee. Taber brought with him a crew of about thirty workmen. 

One reason why we do not run across many of these pipes locally is that Taber shipped his product out of state, sending it down the lake by boat and thence to New York and other points by train. There are, however, at the pottery site to show clearly what the pipes were like. All were cast in molds that were a good step beyond the crude pipes that Taber had previously made in Wells, Maine."

Furthermore, Watkins also wrote about the production of pipes in Wells in Early New England Potters and Their Wares, "An establishment devoted wholly to the production of red earthenware pipes was in existence in Wells before 1861. I first learned of the pottery from a friend, when I secured from him one of the pipes he had picked up on the refuse pile near the ruined buildings when he was a boy. He told me that a man named Taber operated the works. It stood on the road from Wells to Sanford about one-half mile east of the Boston and Maine Railroad tracks. The Wells pipes were designed to accommodate a hollow twig for a stem."

Although, it is lesser known today that pipes were also manufactured at the Brooks family pottery in North Yarmouth (became known as Yarmouth after 1849), Maine. The whereabouts of the machine used to make the pipes is known today.

The Brooks family pottery was established by Joel Brooks (1799-1874) sometime around 1827. This information was published in the Portland (Maine) Advertiser: "Joel Smith Brooks was born in 1799 and he married Susan Soule of North Yarmouth, who was a few years older than her husband, and they had five daughters and two sons, one of whom, John Edward Brooks (b. 1831), became a potter and eventually succeeded to the business. Their other son, George W. Brooks, became a blacksmith and went to California."

While Christmas shopping earlier this month, my niece, Alexis and myself found this intact nineteenth century red earthenware pipe retaining a pewter lid and pipe stem inside a small shop in central New Hampshire. We asked the shop keepers if they knew where the pipe was found; they said they did not know the specifics, but they said the dealer was from the area, and most of the material he finds is found locally.

Knowing this information, I believe this pipe could represent production from either of the Taber businesses in Maine or New Hampshire, but it may have been produced at the Brooks family pottery in North Yarmouth, as well.

Note: Here is a link to an article I posted almost one year ago, showing a glazed red earthenware pipe attributed to the John Taber Pottery in East Alton, New Hampshire. The pipe was discovered by Chris Havey inside a wall of a nineteenth century blacksmith's shop in Dunbarton, New Hampshire.

Recently Discovered Red Earthenware Pipe Found in Central New Hampshire

My Niece Alexis Holding the Pipe, Which Retains a Pewter Lid and Its Stem

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19th Century Red Earthenware Pipe Found in Central New Hampshire

Possibly Made in New Hampshire of Maine

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