This post is another preview of my forthcoming two-volume, 1,800+ page, tenth book, titled, An Early Industry of Household Wares: The Red Earthenware of Salem Village, Danvers, Peabody, Beverly and Salem, Massachusetts: http://www.earlyamericanceramics.com/2026/01/update-on-new-book-book-sent-to.html.
While researching the new book, I felt it was essential to compare the Danvers/Salem area with other production centers in eastern Massachusetts to highlight their operational similarities and differences. Here is some of that story.
"...Building on the discussion of the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company (c. 1764–1799) in Newburyport, it is clear that the company maintained a distribution network far more extensive than some of its seventeenth- and eighteenth-century counterparts in Salem Village (Danvers) and South Danvers (Peabody). Strategically located near the Merrimack River, the Bayley Pottery leveraged the waterway to export goods along the New England coast and upriver to communities like East Haverhill. Evidence of this reach is seen in the red earthenware pitcher and slip decorated porringer recovered from a First-Period house in that area (further discussed in the previous section).
Much like the Kettles, Osborns, and Southwicks (among others) dominated the Beverly and Salem markets, the Bayley Pottery controlled the local trade in greater Newburyport. This dominance is reflected in the archaeological records of prominent local sites, specifically the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm and the Plumer (or Plummer)-Humphreys-Barton Family Homestead.
The Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm serves as a prime example of the region's shifting economic landscape. Originally a 1635 land grant to John Spencer (1604-1648), the property was sold to Daniel Peirce (1611-1677) in 1651. The Peirce family held the land for over a century, constructing the unique stone manor house in 1690. By the late eighteenth century, the site transitioned into a "gentleman’s farm" for wealthy merchants such as Nathaniel Tracy (1751-1796) and Offin Boardman (1747-1811), who added grand architectural upgrades. The Little family later purchased the estate in 1861, operating it as a multi-generational farm for 125 years until Amelia Little (1892-1986) donated it to Historic New England in 1986.
Excavations at the farm by archaeologist Mary Beaudry uncovered red earthenware pans and pots closely matching forms found by Lura Woodside Watkins at the Bayley Pottery site (now held at the Smithsonian). However, the farm's record also reveals a two-way trade system: while Bayley was exporting, stoneware was being imported into Newburyport from Boston and Charlestown. Notable finds include the remains of a salt-glazed stoneware jug featuring a cobalt-highlighted fish. Attributed to Jonathan Fenton (1766-1851) of Boston (late 1700s), the piece offers a rare glimpse into the coastal distribution of his 1793–1797 production. Another cobalt-decorated jug was recovered, likely produced by Fenton, Frederick Carpenter (1771-1827) of Charlestown, or William Pecker (1757-1820) of South Amesbury (Merrimacport).
This pattern of importing stoneware mirrors the archaeological findings at the Narbonne House in Salem (see Chapter 9, Volume II); late eighteenth and early nineteenth century stoneware from Westerwald Germany was also found in both contexts, as further discussed in Chapter 20 in Volume II. All of these objects were recovered from contexts when the property was owned by the Peirce family in Newbury.
A similar reliance on locally produced red earthenware is found at the Plumer estate, a few miles down the road. The family’s history in the region began in 1634 when Francis Plumer (1594-1673), a linen weaver from Woolwich, England, arrived in Ipswich. By early autumn, Plumer—having been made a freeman on May 14, 1634—joined Reverend Thomas Parker’s (1595-1677) company to settle a fertile spot on the north bank of the Parker River. This settlement marked the founding of Newbury, where Plumer’s descendants remained active for eleven generations. While the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm provides fragmented archaeological evidence, the Plumer estate offers extant examples of the ceramics used by these early families, further cementing the Bayley Pottery’s role in the material life of the historic Newbury area.
Interestingly, while the Symonds family of Salem—discussed in Chapter 8 of Volume I—were known for producing both red earthenware and furniture, the Bayley Pottery focused solely on ceramics. Nevertheless, a similar cultural pattern emerges within the Plumer family; their ownership of a locally made seventeenth- or early eighteenth-century chest and a seventeenth century cradle mirrors the way Puritan and Quaker families in the Salem area simultaneously possessed regional furniture and red earthenware.
It was essential to highlight this comparison to demonstrate how the Danvers and Salem area served as a primary hub for red earthenware production in coastal New England. Most of these potteries operated similarly, primarily serving local marketplaces, while others successfully exported their wares. From north to south, the major production centers in eastern Massachusetts during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries spanned from Newburyport and South Amesbury down through Gloucester, Beverly, the Danvers/Salem area, and Charlestown and Boston, reaching as far as Abington, Braintree, Kingston, and Bristol County. Many of these regions were deeply intertwined, sharing both family lineages and production techniques with the Danvers and Salem workshops..."
Note: For more information about the Bayley Pottery - see my seventh published book, titled, From One Town Came Many: The Red Earthenware Industry of Ancient North Yarmouth, Maine: https://historicbeverly.net/product/from-one-town-came-many-the-red-earthenware-industry-of-ancient-north-yarmouth-maine/.
Plumer (or Plummer)-Humphreys-Barton Family Homestead
Please Stay Tuned...Much More to Come...
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