North Devon Pottery and Its Export to America in the 17th Century Part 3

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 17.--Views of North Devon harvest jug used in Suss.e.x County, Delaware. This jug, 11 inches high and dated 1698, is in the collection of Charles G. Dorman. The inscription reads:

"Kind S{r}: i com to Gratifiey youre Kindness Love and Courtisy and Sarve youre table with Strong beare for this intent i was sent heare: or if you pleas i will supply youre workmen when in harvist dry when they doe labour hard and swear{e} good drinke is better far then Meat"]

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, VIRGINIA: SITE OF JOHN WAs.h.i.+NGTON HOUSE.

In 1930 the National Park Service became custodians for "Wakefield," the George Was.h.i.+ngton birthplace site on Pope's Creek in Westmoreland County.

About a mile to the west of "Wakefield" itself, but within the Park area, is the site of Bridges Creek Plantation, purchased in 1664 by John Was.h.i.+ngton, the earliest member of the family in America. It was occupied by John at least until his death in 1677, and probably by Lawrence Was.h.i.+ngton until a few years later. Much artifactual material was dug from the plantation house site, including the largest deposits of North Devon types found outside of Jamestown.[65]

STAFFORD COUNTY, VIRGINIA: MARLBOROUGH SITE.

A short-lived town was built in 1691 at the confluence of Potomac Creek and the Potomac River on Potomac Neck. The town was abandoned by 1720, but six years later became the abode of John Mercer, who developed a plantation there. The site of his house was excavated by the Smithsonian Inst.i.tution in 1956. Two small sherds of North Devon gravel-tempered ware were found there in a predominantly mid-18th-century deposit.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 18.--Gravel-tempered pan (top) and cooking pot with cover, all from Jamestown. The pan has a height of 4-1/2 inches and a diameter of 15 inches. The pot is 6 inches high and 9-1/2 inches in diameter; the diameter of its cover is 10 inches. Colonial National Historical Park.]

CALVERT COUNTY, MARYLAND: ANGELICA KNOLL SITE.

Since 1954 Robert A. Elder, Jr., a.s.sistant curator of ethnology at the United States National Museum, has been investigating the site on the Chesapeake Bay of a plantation or small settlement known as Angelica Knoll. This investigation has revealed a generous variety of gravel-tempered utensil forms, including both 17th and 18th century styles. The range of a.s.sociated artifacts points to a site dating from the late 17th century to about 1765.

KENT ISLAND, QUEEN ANNE COUNTY, MARYLAND.

A small collection of late 17th-century and early 18th-century material--gathered by Richard H. Stearns near the sh.o.r.e of Kent Island, a quarter-mile south of Kent Island Landing--includes both North Devon types. The collection was given to the United States National Museum.

LEWES, SUSs.e.x COUNTY, DELAWARE: TOWNSEND SITE.

The Townsend site was excavated by members of the Suss.e.x County Archeological Society in 1947. This was primarily an Indian site, but a pit or well contained European artifacts, including a North Devon gravel-tempered jar (fig. 25). The village of Lewes, originally the Dutch settlement of Zwaanandael, was destroyed by the British, who occupied the area in 1664.[66] The European materials from the Townsend site were given to the United States National Museum.

PLYMOUTH, PLYMOUTH COUNTY, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS: "R.M." SITE.

A site of a house believed to have been Robert Morton's, located south of the town of Plymouth, was excavated by Henry Hornblower II. It contained North Devon gravel-tempered sherds. The collection is now in the archeological laboratory of Plimoth Plantation, Inc., in Plymouth.

ROCKY NOOK, KINGSTON, PLYMOUTH COUNTY, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS: SITES OF JOHN HOWLAND HOUSE AND JOSEPH HOWLAND HOUSE.

The John Howland house was built between 1628 and 1630; it burned about 1675. The site was excavated between September 1937 and July 1938 under supervision of the late Sidney T. Strickland.[67] Several gravel-tempered utensil sherds were found here, as well as a piece of an oven (see fig.

26). Artifacts from this and the following site are at the Plimoth Plantation laboratory.

The foundations of the Joseph Howland house, adjacent to the John Howland house site, were excavated in 1959 by James Deetz, archeologist at Plimoth Plantation. This is the only New England site of which we are aware that has yielded North Devon sgraffito ware. Two successive houses apparently stood on the site. Statistical evidence of pipe-stem-bore measurements points to 1680-1710 as the first princ.i.p.al period of occupancy.[68]

MARSHFIELD, PLYMOUTH COUNTY, Ma.s.sACHUSETTS: WINSLOW SITE.

This site, excavated by Henry Hornblower II and tentatively dated 1635-1699, yielded considerable quant.i.ties of gravel-tempered ware.

Cultural material is predominantly from about 1675.

FLUs.h.i.+NG, LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: THE JOHN BOWNE HOUSE.

The John Bowne House is a historic house museum at Bowne Street and Fox Lane, Flus.h.i.+ng, Long Island, maintained by the Bowne House Historical Society. Bowne was a Quaker from Derbys.h.i.+re, who built his house in 1661.

A North Devon oven is still in place, with its opening at the back of the fireplace.

YORKTOWN, VIRGINIA.

The National Park Service has excavated at various locations in Yorktown, both in the neighboring battlefield sites and the town itself. Yorktown, like Marlborough, was established by the Act for Ports in 1691. In several of the areas excavated, occasional sherds of North Devon gravel-tempered ware were found. In refuse behind the site of the Swan Tavern, opened as an inn in 1722 but probably occupied earlier, a single large fragment of a 15-inch sgraffito platter was discovered. No other pieces of this type were found, a.s.sociated artifacts having been predominantly from the 18th century.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 19.--Gravel-tempered bowl (top) and pipkins from Jamestown. Colonial National Historical Park.]

Descriptions of Types

NORTH DEVON SGRAFFITO WARE

Sites: Jamestown, Kecoughtan, Green Spring, John Was.h.i.+ngton House, Kent Island, Yorktown, Joseph Howland House.

PASTE

Manufacture: Wheel-turned, with templates used to shape collars of jugs and to shape edges and sometimes ridges where plate rims join bezels.

Temper: Fine, almost microscopic, water-worn sand particles.

Texture: Fine, smooth, well-mixed, sharp, regular cleavage.

Color: Dull pinkish red, with gray core usual.

Firing: Two firings, one before glazing and one after. Usually incomplete oxidation, shown by gray core. A few specimens have surface breaks or flakings incurred in the firing and most show warping (suggesting that "rejects," unsalable in England, were sent to the colonists, who had no recourse but to accept them).

SURFACES

Treatment: Inner surfaces of plates and bowls and outer surfaces of jugs, cups, mugs, chamber pots, and other utensils viewed on the exteriors are coated with white kaolin slip. Designs are scratched through the slip while wet and into the surface of the paste, exposing the latter.

Undersides of plates and chargers are often sc.r.a.ped to make irregular flat areas of surface. Slip-covered portions are coated with amber glaze by sifting on powdered galena (lead sulphide). Containers which are slipped externally are glazed externally and internally. Slip and glaze do not cover lower portions of jugs, but run down unevenly.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 20.--Gravel-tempered chafing dish from Jamestown.

Colonial National Historical Park. (_Smithsonian photo 43104._)]