A Traveling Tour of Some of the Potters Who Worked in Newburyport, Massachusetts

This is a map I made for the following report - which will help guide you through a bike ride my nephew and I took last week. It shows the location of three potter's businesses in Newburyport, Massachusetts. All are located very-close to each other with a body of water known as the Bartlett Mall in the center. Two of the businesses operated simultaneously together in the eighteenth-century - while the third was in business in the latter years of the nineteenth-century that continued into the early years of the twentieth-century.

 

Map of Newburyport, Ma with Some of Its Potters

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While riding my bike through parts of Newburyport, Massachusetts last week with my nephew, Jason - we briefly stopped at St. Paul's Church on High Street, which is the resting place of the eighteenth-century potter, Daniel Bayley. Resting alongside Daniel are additional Bayley family members most of who were involved with the area's eighteenth-century red earthenware industry. Immediately next door to the church (heading west) is where Bayley's overly successful red earthenware company operated from roughly 1766-1799. Almost all of the remains from this business were removed in the 1930s - when a Route 1 underpass was paved directly through the center of the city. Author, Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) salvaged a large amount of broken shards before demolition completely destroyed all of the important remains that tell the story of who the Bayley potters were - and how many of their products appeared. Most of the shards are now kept at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.; although I've heard rumors that some boxes still remain with the Watkins family.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Mug - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Slip Decorated Deep Dish or Pan - Newburyport, Ma

Very Similar to a Bowl I Recently Found in a Newbury, Ma Trash Pile

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

(See the 15th and 16th Photos for a Similar Pan Found in Newbury, Ma -- June 2 Report)

Many of the Bayley shards collected by Watkins are very colorful - especially-so for an eighteenth-century American potter's business. The glaze colors were sometimes vibrant, rich colors - and when there was a more mute glaze color used - the products were often adorned in a large amount of slip decoration. When I first saw the Bayley shards at the Smithsonian last fall, I was surprised to see some glaze colors that were in keeping with colors usually associated with nineteenth-century potters in Maine.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shards - Newburyport, Ma
Impressive Group of Colors
Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shards - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. 1766-1799
Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin
Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

  Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Slip Decorated Shards - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Mug Shard - Newburyport, Ma
The Glaze Appears Like Some Products Made in Maine in the 19th Century
Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Milk Pan Shard - Newburyport, Ma

 The Glaze Appears Like Some Products Made in Maine in the 19th Century

Ca. 1766-1799

Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

Lura Woodside Watkins actually did excavations at a number of places where the Bayley family worked throughout Essex County  in the eighteenth-century. Those places included; Josph Bayley's operation in Rowley, Massachusetts (before 1735) and Daniel Bayley's place of operation in Gloucester, Massachusetts (before 1766).

Joseph Bayley operated in Rowley from roughly 1720-1735 before he left for Newburyport for religious reasons. He is not thought to have re-entered the potter's trade once he left Rowley.

Daniel Bayley worked in Gloucester, Massachusetts before he moved to Newburyport and began his company in 1766. The Newburyport company was the more established of the two businesses.

Joseph Bayley Red Earthenware Shard - Rowley, Ma

Ca. Before 1735

 Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 

Daniel Bayley Kiln Furniture - Gloucester, Ma
Ca. Before 1766
 Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

 

While on our bike ride, I was surprised to see shards from Daniel Bayley's operation in Newburyport protruding from the ground at St. Paul's Church. A half-dozen or-so were easily seen without even having to put any effort into looking for shards.The frozen soil appears to force shards above ground each year.

 Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shard - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. 1766-1799
Seen on the Property of St. Paul's Church in Newburyport, Ma

  Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Shard - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. 1766-1799
Seen on the Property of St. Paul's Church in Newburyport, Ma

This next group of photos shows where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company used to operate in Newburyport (Ca. 1766-1799). The pictures also show St. Paul's Church and the Route 1 underpass that was built in 1934.

 St. Paul's Church Graveyard in Newburyport, Ma

 St. Paul's Church Graveyard in Newburyport, Ma
Daniel Bayley is Buried Here

 St. Paul's Church - Newburyport, Ma

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Brick Wall of St. Paul's Church Can be Seen to the Right

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass

 The Route 1 Underpass Was Built in 1934

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
St. Paul's Church is in the Background

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass 

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass 

  This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
The Route 1 Underpass 

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated
St. Paul's Church is in the Background

 This is Where the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company Used to Operated

St. Paul's Church is in the Background 

Route 1 Sign is Seen

As we continued on our bike ride through Newburyport, we came to the place where Ebenezer Morrison (Ca, 1741-1803) operated in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth-centuries. Many Bayley family members were employed at the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company (5 in all) - and some of those family members traveld back-and-forth between the Bayley and Morrison businesses. As a result, many products took similar appearances at both companies. It was only a few hundred yards that separated the two businesses.

Ebenezer Morrison Kiln Furniture - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. Late 18th Century - Probably After 1775

 Lura Woodside Watkins Collectioin

Photo Courtesy: The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

We probably rode our bikes for another 1/10 of a mile before we came to the place where Thomas Nickerson operated the Merrimac Pottery Company from 1897-1908 making high-end floral wares, garden products, formal household pottery and ancient-style Grecian wares. Once again, we could see shards sticking out of the ground. All of the following shards correspond with products seen at the Historical Society of Old Newbury in Newburyport. Historical society curator, Jay Williamson and past Vice President, Chris Snow dug the site in 1998 as a condominium development was about to be placed over Nickerson's company, which burned in 1908. All of the shards seen below are in keeping with the shards I reviewed at the historical society earlier this year. All of the shards also appear to be the remains of floral products that are somewhat utilitarian in purpose.

 Area of Newburyport, Ma that Used to be the Back-End of the Merrimac Pottery Company
Merrimac Pottery Company Operated from 1897-1908

 Interior Brown Glazed Terracotta Shard
Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

 Terracotta Shard Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

  Terracotta Shards Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

  Interior Orange Glazed Terracotta Shard
Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma
Ca. Probably After 1900

Terracotta Shard Found Near the Site of the Merrimac Pottery Company - Newburyport, Ma

Ca. Probably After 1900

These were not the only potters who worked in Newburyport; however they were likely the most prominent. Clement Kent (died 1747 or 1748) was another potter who worked in town, but I do not know much about his work. He was reportedly (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) responsible for training Ebenezer Morrison. There were also Newburyport brick makes in the seventeenth, eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. The potter's businesses were also probably responsible for many apprentices and even possibly traveling potters. Newburyport is not the largest city, but it certainly has an interesting history of important potter's businesses.

Much More to Come...

Discovery: Two Important Red Earthenware Products Found on Maine's Seacoast Likely Related to the State's 19th Century Potters

I had to make a quick trip to beautiful coastal Wiscasset, Maine this morning to pick something up that a friend had told me about. I didn't have a lot of time to spend in the area, but I chose to pick some of the lesser quality shops on my way home. I made two significant discoveries of previously undocumented examples of nineteenth-century Maine red earthenware in a short amount of time - and I am quite excited over it!

The first was found in a shop directly on Route 1 in Wiscasset. It may be one of the most important examples of Maine red earthenware I have found to-date. It is unglazed, but modeled with a hound-handled pitcher and decorated with cherubs and fruited vines around the top. Similar earthenware hound-handled pitchers were made in parts of New Hampshire, Vermont and New Jersey; however this is a red earthenware product, which makes it much rarer. It was also made in Maine, which makes it that much better. The only other region I can recall that made similar red earthenware pitchers was in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia by such businesses as Solomon Bell & Sons in Strasburg and John Bell in Pennsylvania. The pitcher I found could be a much-rarer story - since no modeled red earthenware pitchers like this have ever been attributed to the potters who worked in Maine before. That's not to take away from the Virginia products because those are exceedingly rare and important, as well.

 Hound-Handled Red Earthenware Pitcher

Purchased in a Shop in Wiscasset, Me

Stands 10" Tall

Ca. 1840-1860

 Nicely Decorated in Cherubs and Fruited Vines

Nicely Accomplished Pouring Spot with More Decoration Directly on the Front

I asked the shop owner where the pitcher came from - and he told me it was found in a home in Newcastle, Maine. The reason I asked is because the pitcher has an obvious stamp on its base. It's marked with an unmistakable snowflake - a mark that the Safford Pottery in Monmouth, Maine is known for, but never before - have I seen a form like this attributed to any Maine red earthenware potter before. The distance between Newcastle and Monmouth is only about thirty-five miles - so it is possible this pitcher is original to the home it was found inside of. All the evidence suggests to me that this pitcher was made in Monmouth and the snowflake stamp is indicative of that. Very exciting!

 Base is Stamped with a Snowflake

The Safford Pottery in Monmouth, Me was Known for Using Snowflake Designs

The Pitcher Was Found in a Newcastle, Me Home

Safford Pottery Handled Jar - Monnmouth, Me

Nicely Decorated in a Cream and Raspberry Glaze

Front is Stamped with Snowflakes and the Safford Pottery Name

Ca. 1820-1840

Photo Courtesy: Maine State Museum - Augusta, Me

Luck was still on my side as I traveled home - I stopped into a vintage shop (not exclusively an antique shop) in downtown Bath, Maine - where I found a nice small red earthenware pitcher made at the nearby Corliss Pottery in Woolwich, Maine. Woolwich is the next town over and the important Corliss Family Pottery worked in the Days Ferry neighborhood in the nineteenth-century.

The shop keeper told me she just purchased the contents of a home in Bath. She said everything her and her business partner purchased had been with the family for generations and this little pitcher was included with the sale. She said she knew nothing about it. The pitcher is in a very-rare small size with an unusual Corliss Pottery glaze. I have seen similar formed pitchers attributed to the Corliss Pottery with more traditional glazes. I love the rounded foot or base. It's just a wonderful form.

Corliss Pottery Red Earthenware Pitcher - Woolwich, Me

Purchased Today in Bath, Me

Recently Removed from a Bath, Me Estate

Stands 4 3/4" Tall

Ca. 1820-1860

My adventures did not stop here. As I continued on my way home, I stopped at an indoor flea market just south of Bath - where I met a local potter who sold me four pieces of incredible pottery he had just removed from his home. He told me they were all probably foreign products, but I have since been able to attribute them all to C.A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly, Massachusetts. One in particular you will be amazed with! I promise! I will try and write about this experience tomorrow.

Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...

A Very Important 19th Century Red Earthenware Vase - Attributed to Merrimacport, Massachusetts

According to Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares), "…This trend of bric-a-brac may be observed at other redware potteries that were running in the 1870s and 1880s. At Exeter (NH), at Merrimacport (Ma)…(page 223)" - This is a statement that has puzzled me ever since I first recognized what Watkins meant by the phrase bric-a-brac. Defined - it means: A miscellaneous collection of small articles commonly of ornamental value or decorative quality.

According to Wakins, below are the potters who worked in Merrimacport (formerly West Amesbury), Massachusetts - there is no indication that a potter or potters were employed in this area in the 1870s or 1880s; although she does include the sentence seen above in her book. I truly believe for her to make such a statement - she must have received this information from talking with old-timers, period advertising or early publications. There was obviously a strong recollection for her to write such a definitive statement.

It is very possible that one of the later potters listed below owned a business in the 1870s and 1880s. Richard Chase may be that potter - especially since he is related to all the previous potters who owned businesses in Merrimacport.

Merrimacport (formerly West Amesbury) Potters

1) Benjamin Bodge (West Amesbury, MA) – bapt. 1746 – Pecker trained under & brother in-law
2) William Pecker (Merrimacport, MA) – 1758-1820 – trained under Benjamin Bodge

3) James Chase – Pecker’s nephew (Merrmimacport, MA) – 1779-1849

4) Phinieas Chase – James’ son (Merrimacport, MA) – 1820-1863

5) Sargeant Smith (Merrimacport, MA) – 1825 – may have worked at Chase Pottery

6) (?) Mann (Merrimacport) – 1852 – may have worked at Chase Pottery
7) Richard Chase (Merrimacport, MA) – 1856

After careful consideration of what was happening in the 1870s and 1880s with coastal Massachusetts potters - it has been my belief that whatever this business was that operated in Merrimacport during this period - must have made similar products like those seen at the business run by Charles A. Lawrence in Beverly, Massachusetts. It would make the most sense especially considering what was happening to country potters during the Industrial Era. In order for potters to compete with the larger factories they had to become creative. Sadly, no piece has ever been properly identified to Merrimacport after 1870 -- until recently!

This is very exciting!

I managed to find a piece today from a local Newburyport-area home with many characteristics shared with wares made by William Pecker in Merrimacport (Ca. 1784-1820) and C.A. Lawrence Pottery in Beverly (Ca. 1866-1906). The piece is in the form of a vase. It is very-thinly potted in a wonderful-mastered form with great proportions. 

To start, it is painted in a goldish-reddish color, which is similar to paint colors used in Beverly. The base is also painted like the Beverly products. That's not the exciting part. The exciting part is the fact that the top of the vase is nearly identical to the tops of most William Pecker-made jugs - and it shares a sharply cut base that is nearly identical to how William Pecker added his footed bases. The way Pecker made his bases are also somewhat unique. It's all very small, but noticeable if you look at it up close. The bases come down at a sharp angle and then they are cut off at another sharp angle towards the base or bottom. This is exactly how the footed base on the vase is done. That's absolutely incredible to me! It appears that whoever this mystery potter was attempted to pay homage to William Pecker with how he made some of his products - or he at least stayed with the ways of old for the new. Most of the potters who worked in Merrimacport were related so there is a chance this potter may have been a descendant of Pecker.

I have to find out who this potter is - to begin, they were definitely accomplished. As far as I know (and I've seen a lot of private and museum collections all-over the east coast), this is the first piece ever attributed to this period in Merrimacport, Massachusetts. Now that's exciting!

(Center) Merrimacport, Ma Red Earthenware Vase

Ca. 1870s or 1880s

(Left) William Pecker Red Earthenware Pitcher - Merrimacport, Ma

Ca. 1784-1820 (Notice the Base)

(Right) William Pecker Red Earthenware Jug - Merrimacport, Ma

Ca. 1784-1820 (Notice  the Top)

This was not the only discovery I made at this location…there will be more to this story in time!

Please Stay Tuned…Much More to Come...

Interesting Red Earthenware Artifacts Found in Newbury, Massachusetts of a Possible 18th Century Origin

My nephew, Jason and I set out on a bike ride over the weekend that brought us through parts of Newburyport, West Newbury and Newbury, Massachusetts. He had asked if we could go somewhere we had never ridden to before - and considering the amount of riding we do - it seemed like somewhat of a lot to ask. We've ridden to William Pecker's place of operation in Merrimacport (here is a link to a story written about that ride for the October 2013 New England Antiques Journal), Massachusetts before. We've gone past the places where the Bayley family and Ebenezer Morrison worked in Newburyport in the eighteenth-century. We've even gone past numerous locations on the Merrimac River - where large amounts of eighteenth and nineteenth-century trash used to be deposited. Today, the partial remains of some of these deposits sometimes appear on the shoreline after storms. We have occasionally found some red earthenware sherds - which help define some of the locally made potter's wares; although these deposits also provide many others products of interest. Rivers all over world can tell stories of the past in a similar manner since dumping local trash was a popular practice in urban environments. There was no such thing as a trash pickup day back then - so it had to go somewhere a river was sometimes the easiest solution.

We thought up a plan - I told him he could take a few minutes to look for frogs in a swampy part of a place known as the Artichoke (which is also the local water supply for Newburyport) along the city's boundaries to the southwest. I quickly took that statement back when I saw the amount of poison ivy. I used to go to the Artichoke with my childhood friends as a kid looking for frogs, turtles and to fish in the 1980s and early 1990s. The area has always had myths and legend into the size of huge snapping turtles that were mostly made up by the imagination of children. The Artichoke Reservoir is also the place of a very-early Quaker settlement that all that remains of its memory today is a cemetery. All the buildings and meeting houses vanished years ago.

Jason and I took this route for at least a mile riding past springtime flowers in full-bloom, early New England homes and what I would purely describe as a beautiful county New England setting - with lots of wildlife, swamps, ponds, streams and trees. We could occasionally hear the songs of birds and bullfrogs in the air. Our route was entirely lined with early-built rock walls. We did venture off our path a little bit, but we always found our way back to the main road. We both ride Giant Mountain Bikes so we occasionally put them to good use.

This road eventually brought us to a road that ran next to an Interstate 95 on-ramp and off-ramp near the Newbury State Police Barracks known as Scotland Road.

Scotland Road was our way back to Newburyport. It brought us to the Newburyport industrial park, which we then took to the Newburyport MBTA train station, the scenic rail trail and through Newburyport before we arrived home. Scotland Road is also a scenic ride. We went by a working farm with chickens and sheep out front, running brooks, blossoming springtime trees and an occasional home.

In all, our ride probably lasted for about five-miles. The longest ride we've taken together was when we visited the workplace of William Pecker last summer. That ride was about twelve-miles with plenty of hills that stretched along the beautiful Merrimac River.

Before we were about to re-enter Newburyport and a short distance from the industrial park, I noticed a huge pile of dirt that laid just off Scotland road to the left of a dirt driveway. The dirt driveway went uphill for a little bit leading to a newly built house. Out of curiosity, I entered the driveway to see if the dirt pile had any red earthenware shards laying on top of it, but as soon as I made that turn into the driveway - I noticed this was not only one dirt pile, but one of many. The piles looked like one succeeded the next from the back of dump trucks. There must have been at least a dozen piles - and as soon as I saw that first pile, I could clearly see discarded artifacts, sherds and shards. All the piles appeared this way. The dirt was likely not random piles either, but rather - it was likely landfill taken from somewhere (possibly the newish house up on the hill) and this was where it had been deposited.

 A Few of the Dirt Piles Facing Back Towards the Dirt Driveway

They Went for Quite a Distance

 The Row of Dirt Piles Facing Away From the Dirt Driveway

The Piles Were Littered with 19th and 20th Century Trash

 The Dirt Piles Looking Back at Scotland Road in Newbury, Ma

 More of the Dirt Piles Looking Back at Scotland Road in Newbury, Ma

Each Pile Probably Stood About 8 Feet High

There Were About a Dozen or-so Piles of Dirt Dumped in this Area

All the Piles Appeared to be a Dump Truck Size

Among the artifacts we saw included - transfer decorated nineteenth-century ceramics, nineteenth-century ironstone, twentieth-century glass, nineteenth-century glass, Chinese export ceramics, cow bones, a nineteenth-century canning jar, an early horse shoe, a couple of glass marbles and many examples of red earthenware - which I presume were mostly made by local potters.

 Broken Glass and Ceramics

 Unglazed Red Earthenware Sherd Protruding From One of the Piles

 Broken Ceramics

 More Broken Ceramics

 Even More Broken Ceramics and Red Earthenware

My nephew almost immediately found a broken spade, which he toted around for much of the our adventure looking over all the artifacts that laid atop the piles of dirt. We did not do any digging - we just observed what could visibly be seen. The possession he appears to have cherished most was probably a horse shoe - because it likely reminded him of a farm he has been hanging out at on Saturdays this spring - which has a few horses.

My Nephew, Jason with a Broken Spade 

 One of the Marbles My Nephew Found

Probably 20th Century

 A Second Marble My Nephew Found

Also Probably 20th Century

The most interesting New England-made artifacts I saw were the partial remains of a  rim to a red earthenware milk pan, a hand-turned nineteenth-century flower pot, a chunk from a thickly potted black glazed red earthenware sherd (probably 18th century)  and a very interesting slip decorated pan or deep dish of some-sort (also probably 18th century).

The milk pan rim reminded me of some products made in the southern part of Maine in the nineteenth-century with a typical glaze often associated with that area; although I assume dairy products like this were also made in the Newburyport-area - since the towns that surround Newburyport were - and still are farming communities. There must have been a demand for products like milk pans and utilitarian crocks in all farming communities across America.

The black glazed sherd could very-well be related to the eighteenth-century industry that roughly operated between 1765-1799 in Newburyport. There were two main businesses located across the street from each other - the first was run by Daniel Bayley and his family and the second by Ebenezer Morrison. Products from each of these companies appear similar. I have viewed shards collected by Lura Woodside Watkins (Early New England Potters and Their Wares) at the site of the Bayley Pottery, now kept at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and this is how some of those products appear - thickly potted wares with black glazes.

 Black Glazed Red Earthenware Shard

Possibly from One of the Potters Who Worked in Newburyport, Ma

Possibly Dates Back to the 19th Century

Appears Thickly Potted

This next sherd fascinates me - it is approximately three inches long. It appears to be the remains of some kind of small pan or a deep dish, which was covered in slip decoration at one-time. It is also thinnly potted. Similar products have been found at the site of the Daniel Bayley Pottery Company and other parts of New England that have been properly attributed to the Bayley Pottery. It appears eighteenth-century to me. If it were left up to me - the form and decoration suggest an eighteenth-century potter - and the businesses in Newburyport would make the most sense.

 Possible 18th Century Slip Decorated Red Earthenware Pan or Deep Dish

Form and Decoration Conforms with Some Products Made in Newburyport, Ma Before 1775

Exterior of Pan or Deep Dish

Appears Thinly Potted

 

Interior of Pan or Deep Dish

Measures About 3" Long - the Size of the Pan Wouldn't Have Been A Great Amount Larger

I would love to learn more about the dirt that was trucked into this area. I don't believe it came from the house that sat atop the hill. I have many questions that surround it; Where did the dirt come from? Why was it removed? What is the land's history that it was removed from? What has the land's ownership been like? These are the types of questions that I think of - especially since I am seeing what may be colonial red earthenware artifacts from important Newburyport potters. It's all a bit of a mystery at the moment. I can only imagine the information that may lay within these piles. Fascinating! Isn't it?

Much More to Come...