A 19th Century Stoneware "Voodoo" Face Jug Attributed to the Knox Hill Pottery in Florida?

In March of 2015, I posted an article about the nineteenth century stoneware manufactured at the Knox Hill Pottery in Florida. This type of production is perhaps a style of pottery that can be misinterpreted for wares made in places like Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina.

According to a book written by Dr. Alfred R. Frankel, Old Florida Pottery: Potters in Paradise, 1859-1966, "Florida pottery reflects the lives of the pioneers who founded this state. Food and liquid had to be contained and preserved, water cooled and transported, oil burned for light. Basins were needed for washing; containers for soap; stew pots and bread pans for open hearth cooking; and pitchers, mugs, and bowls for the table. Milk was a farm staple, and crocks were needed for cream rising and butter storage and churns for butter making. Meat was salted, vegetables pickled, lard and tallow stored in large jars; cane syrup, vinegar, wine, and liquor were put in jugs; fruits and jams preserved in small jars. The potters also made sieves, water coolers, funnels, measuring cups, baby bottles, animal feeders, chimney flues, spittoons, chamber pots, inkwells, clay pipes, playing marbles called 'peedabs' and grave markers. Clearly, to understand our world and our place in it - Floridians must study our pottery, our art, and our material culture.

Florida Pottery is American folk art at its best. Made of Florida clay and the sweat of pioneers, it reflects in its shiny alkaline and Albany slip glazes the lives and dreams of its creators. The story began in 1859 at Knox Hill near DeFuniak Springs in the Florida panhandle. The first Florida potters produced the jugs, churns and food storage jars needed to survive in the wilderness. When the Civil War ended and railroads began to push south into the state bringing more immigrant settlers and then winter tourists, the needs of the people changed - and Addison Mizner, an architect from California, began to produce roof and floor tiles and decorative pottery for the homes he was building in Palm Beach - and Mary Ward, a Tennessean, arrived from Bradentown with thoughts of producing decorative pottery for the home."

The Knox Hill Pottery was established by M.M. Odom and Robert Turnlee, where according to Dr. Frankel, "Turnley (Turnlee) provided the money and the land and Odom was the potter, but the (landmark) operation only lasted a little over one year, circa 1859-60." 

At this point, I have not conducted any research into where Odom was trained and how he learned to make stoneware, but I suspect it was in one of the Southern states. While reading through a mid-twentieth century book tonight, I came across this photo attributing a "voodoo" face jug to the Knox Hill Pottery. I have never seen anything like this before attributed to Florida, and I can not validate the attribution, but I thought this would be an interesting object to share. I do not know the whereabouts of this jug today.

Face Jug Attributed to the Knox Hill Pottery in Florida?

19th Century Stoneware "Voodoo" Face Jug

Reportedly Attributed to M.M. Odom and Turnlee at the Knox Hill Pottery in Florida

Reportedly Circa 1859-60

See Article for More Information

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