A Good Example of 20th Century Stoneware Made at the Roadside Craftsmen Recently Found in Western New York

This is a recent find! This twentieth century stoneware vase was made at the Roadside Craftsmen in East Bloomfield, New York, and it is a really good example because it is marked on the base in ink with the company’s circular stamp, initialed "G.D." and dated "50" for the year it was made, 1950. There are not a lot of these types of objects known today bearing all of this information. Furthermore, it is also decorated in a type of glaze that closely resembles some glazes produced by some of the utilitarian red earthenware potters who worked in this part of western New York in the 1800s.

The Roadside Craftsmen was opened in the early 1930s by Clarence Wemett (1885-1961) as a place to make and sell novelty items. Homer Bullock (1888-1957) was hired in 1934 as a wood craftsmen. Guy Daugherty (1879-1958) was the potter (but there may have been others) and a weaver and metal worker were also involved with the business.

According to New York archaeologist and museum specialist George Hamell, "There was a southern potter, Guy Daugherty, an itinerant potter from Denton Texas, having started his pottery career in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and later worked in the summer months during the Great Depression and in the early years after World Word II in making pottery in East Bloomfield.”

Daughterty's southern pottery heritage is reflected in the lip treatment on some of the pitchers he made here, although he did produce some larger pitchers and vases, among other forms. He also fired his wares in a groundhog kiln. Interestingly, he perhaps knew of the earlier red earthenware heritage in the Town of Bloomfield - he often used a red-firing clay, and much of his production is covered in a glaze strikingly similar to that found on a lot of the wares made in West Bloomfield around the mid-1800s (as well as some of the wares made in Morganville, New York).

The wares were sometimes stamped "Roadside Craftsmen" and adhesive labels were also sometimes used. He also made larger wares marked "Bloomfield Art Pottery." He even occasionally incised objects with his initials "GD," and the last two digits of the year that the piece was made, such as "48" or "49." The shop closed in 1953.

A Good Example of 20th Century Stoneware Made at the Roadside Craftsmen

20th Century Stoneware Vase Made in East Bloomfield, New York

Made by Guy Daugherty at the Roadside Craftsmen

Recently Found in Western New York

Made in 1950

Stands 8" Tall

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A View of the Base

The Base is Inscribed "GD" and "50"

It is also Marked with the Roadside Craftsmen Ink Stamp

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