The Continued Study of the Lake Winnipesaukee Area Potters: An Inscribed Jug from Moultonborough, New Hampshire

Last summer, I posted a story that showed a nineteenth century lead glazed earthenware handled pot in the collection of the Meredith, New Hampshire Historical Society. The museum was not able to provide any details into who made the pot, but it was thought to have been made locally, seeing it retained a long history of local ownership.

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."

I suspect the historical society's pot could have been made at any of the local potteries that I just cited, but the potter named Bennett in Moultonborough is a name that is hardly recognized in published material today. But he was clearly skilled at his craft based on an inscribed jug that sold at Northeast Auctions in the summer of 2011; the inscription reads, "Moultonboro / August 5th, 1844 / James S. Bennett / potter." To my knowledge, this jug is now owned by the New Hampshire Historical Society.

Although, I would also like to mention that this jug could be mistaken for production in Maine today based on the colorful glaze if it were not for the inscription. I truly believe that pottery production in this area of New Hampshire deserves more recognition today.

Inscribed Jug from Moultonborough, NH

19th Century Lead Glazed Earthenware Jug Made in Moultonborough, NH

Inscribed "Moultonboro / August 5th, 1844 / James S. Bennett / potter"

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Photo Courtesy: Northeast Auctions

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