The Red Earthenware in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century

I was just going through some pictures this morning that were taken this summer in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and this particular tidal spot in Portsmouth is filled with nineteenth and early-twentieth century artifacts, some may even date to the eighteenth century. We found a few handfuls of New England red earthenware, but it's nearly impossible to identify where these pieces were made.

This area is located a short distance from Strawbery Banke and Prescott Park, which is where docks were located in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. The area is also surrounded by some of Portsmouth's oldest homes.

A misconception that I have found with red earthenware recovered in Portsmouth is that it was all made locally. However, I have studied the archaeology collections at Stawbery Banke's Archaeology Department extensively, and the reality is that some pottery was made in Portsmouth in the 1700s and 1800s, but a large amount was also imported from other businesses located elsewhere in central and northern New England.

For instance, wares were shipped to Portsmouth from Newburyport and Charlestown, Massachusetts in the eighteenth century, and in the nineteenth century it was shipped from areas located to the north, west and south. I have seen wares that were made in North Yarmouth, Maine, Rochester, New Hampshire area, Concord, New Hampshire and Merrimacport, Massachusetts.

For more information about the locally made red earthenware available in Portsmouth in the 1700s and 1800s - I suggest these two feature stories that I wrote, which were published in the April 2017 issue of the New England Antiques Journal and the February 2018 issue of Maine Antique Digest.

1) A Pioneering Potter: Samuel Marshall of Portsmouth, New Hampshire

2) The Dodges and Their Potteries

Red Earthenware Artifacts Recovered in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

Tidal Waterway in Portsmouth, NH

This Area is Filled with Artifacts

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Tidal Waterway in Portsmouth, NH

This Area is Filled with Artifacts

See Article for More Information

Tidal Waterway in Portsmouth, NH

This Area is Filled with Artifacts

See Article for More Information

My Niece Alexis with Some of the New England Red Earthenware We Recovered

It's Nearly Impossible to Say if These Were Made in Portsmouth, NH

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Some of the New England Red Earthenware We Recovered

It's Nearly Impossible to Say if These Were Made in Portsmouth, NH

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Some of the New England Red Earthenware We Recovered

It's Nearly Impossible to Say if These Were Made in Portsmouth, NH

See Article for More Information

Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...