EarlyAmericanCeramics.com: Early-19th Century Red Earthenware and Slipware Recovered in Cearfoss, Maryland

Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Early-19th Century Red Earthenware and Slipware Recovered in Cearfoss, Maryland

Cearfoss, Maryland is a community with a current population of less than 200 people, located about five-miles northwest of Hagerstown, Maryland and about two-miles south of the Pennsylvania border. But there was apparently a settlement in Cearfoss just after the American Revolution, when it was settled by Mennonites on April 28, 1788. Even back then in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century, Cearfoss was considered a rural area located just outside of Hagerstown, which had a population in the low thousands in 1800, and also sustained a red earthenware industry producing some of the most colorful pottery made anywhere in America.

But despite the small size of Cearfoss, archaeologists did excavate an area known as the Reiff Site within an early-nineteenth century archaeological context. According to the Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab in St. Leonard, Maryland, "What we throw away can say a lot about us. Broken pottery left behind by tenants living at the Reiff Site, helped archaeologists not only understand rural shopping habits in the early 1800s, it also pointed to the Pennsylvania-German heritage of the residents. A combination of imported and locally manufactured pottery found during the dig suggests residents purchased specific types of pottery for different household purposes. Residents at the site preferred to use more fashionable imported whiteware from Europe at the table during meals. In contrast, vessels made of locally produced plain red earthenware were used for food preparation and storage. Slip-decorated red earthenware may have been used as decoration or for special meals."

Furthermore, "despite the availability of imported whiteware, residents at the Reiff Site continued to purchase locally made pottery for preparing and storing food. The preference for locally-made storage vessels may have helped the local pottery industry remain successful longer in the Hagerstown area than in other regions.

But a small number of slip-decorated red earthenware vessels suggest that at least one of the tenant households at the site was of Pennsylvania-German heritage. Many of the master potters in the region were of Pennsylvania-German descent and adopted new decorating techniques as the popularity of art pottery grew in the nineteenth century. Archaeologists believe the slip-decorated pottery from this site may have held special value for the tenants and acted as a way to tie the residents to a cultural tradition. These vessels may have been used only as decoration or during special meals."

Considering the close proximity of Hagerstown to the Pennsylvania border, I wonder how many pieces of locally made pottery have been interpreted as wares made in Pennsylvania through the years. And the same, where I suspect that some Pennsylvania pottery might be mistaken for Hagerstown production.

Although, the slip-decorated rim found on the remains of at least one bowl recovered at the Reiff Site is very similar to the slip colors applied on an intact bowl in the William C. and Susan S. Mariner Collection at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in Wintson-Salem, North Carolina. That bowl is attributed to Hagerstown based on archaeological evidence, and is from a matching early-nineteenth century or 1800-1820 time period.

Exhibited alongside the Hagerstown bowl in the Mariner Gallery at MESDA are a remarkable dish and covered bowl. Both of these slip-decorated objects are attributed to Henry Adam who first advertised his Hagerstown pottery in 1805. Interestingly, Henry's production could have ended up in Cearfoss, as well seeing that his production is linked to the circa 1805-1819 period.

Red Earthenware Recovered in Cearfoss, Maryland