into
the Peabody Potters
Archaeology and
red earthenware
Justin W. Thomas
I t was an unseasonably
warm Friday afternoon in
January, when I drove with
my niece, Alexis, through an old
neighborhood in Peabody, Mass.
This section of Peabody (formerly
known as South Danvers) has
changed a lot over the years;
the open fields and scattered
houses that once called this area
home have been largely replaced
by twentieth-century urban
development. However, this was
just not any old neighborhood in
Peabody - this neighborhood was
once the location of an illustrious
potters business.
The Osborn potteries
A Quaker potter, Joseph
Osborn established the first
Osborn Pottery in this section
of Peabody in about 1736. It
began as a small business, but
it grew as the company passed
through generations of Osborn
family ownership. Multiple
family members expanded upon
the family name, and built kilns
on both sides of the road in
the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. I can only imagine
how much household pottery
that the Osborns actually
Page 34 Antiques Journal November 2017 www.antiquesjournal.com
Rare slip decorated bowl that Old Sturbridge Village purchased
from Roger Bacon in the 1950s. The slip is likely related to the sherds
that were recovered in South Danvers, Mass. Courtesy Old Sturbridge
Village.
produced; although, the family
also manufactured simple pots
for industrial use in Salem in the
1800s, as well as drain pipe.
The Osborn Pottery was a
Rare swirled, slip-decorated sherds recovered from a 19th-century
dump site on the Bass River in South Danvers, Massachusetts. This
style of slip was likely produced in the Peabody area. Courtesy the
prolific business, and influenced author.
potteries in Rhode Island,
Southeastern Massachusetts, New
Hampshire, Maine and even New
York State in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. Family
members even branched out into
New Hampshire, where they
established their own potteries
in Boscowan, Dover, Gonic and
Loudon in the nineteenth century.
Massachusetts author, Lura
Woodside Watkins wrote in
1950, The fact that the Osborns
were Quakers, and therefore not
permitted to marry outside of
their own sect, may account for
the large number of the family,
so closely related, who remained
in the same trade for generations.
More than thirty of the name were
potters in Peabody. The Osborns
eventually sold the family business
to Joseph Reed in 1866, who later
sold the business to Moses Paige
in 1876. (Early New England
Potters and Their Wares)
I was surprised when we were Beautifully decorated pot, probably made in Peabody, found by
driving through the old Osborn Laura Woodside Watkins in Salem, Mass. in the early 1900s. Courtesy
The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.
neighborhood to see an active
construction site on a piece of
undeveloped land, that had once
been owned by the original
Osborn Pottery. A Peabody police
officer told us that the senior
citizen center, which now owns
the original Osborn property, was
expanding its existing parking
lot. The construction crew had
dug down about two-to-three feet
about half the size of a football
field. The officer said that they
were adding 30 parking spaces.
I told him the significance of the
site, and he gave us permission
to collect any surface artifacts
that may pertain to the Osborn
Pottery, the Reed Pottery or the
Paige Pottery.
Our findings were incredible
we discovered kiln furniture,
wasters, kiln bricks, an abundance
of black-glazes, a variety of
colorful glazes, evidence of slip-
decoration, and artifacts, which
were intentionally glazed on the
base. I believe that this production
was related to the Osborn family,
as opposed to the Reed Pottery
or the Paige Pottery. Many of our
findings provided new information
about what had happened at
Peabody.
The slip-decorated sherds
really spoke to me since it has
been published that not a lot of
slip was produced in Essex County
in the eighteenth or nineteenth
centuries. However, I feel the
production of slip in Essex County
is a subject that really needs to
Early 19th-century flower pot
uncovered at the Narbonne
House in Salem, Mass.
Presumably manufactured in
the Peabody area. A similar
example was uncovered at the
Charlestown Navy Yard near
Boston. Courtesy National Parks
Services.
www.antiquesjournal.com November 2017 Antiques Journal Page 35
be re-examined today. After all,
I have found a number of slip-
decorated artifacts in separate
contexts in the Peabody area. The
most intriguing slip decorations
were a swirled decoration on the
remains of a plate and a pan. This
is a rare type of decoration to find
from surviving Peabody/Salem
pottery today, but there are a few
known other examples.
Nevertheless, our excitement
should also be understandable
since slip has never been
associated with the Osborns in
Peabody. This evidence is proof
that there is still a lot to be learned
about the potters in Essex County,
Massachusetts.
The Pottery Industry My niece Alexis at the construction site at the old Osborn Pottery in
in Peabody Peabody, Massachusetts. We collected many artifacts made by the
The red earthenware potteries Osborn family between 1735 and 1860. Courtesy the author.
in Charlestown, Mass. were the
center of the industry in New
England before the American
Revolution. The industry was
all, but destroyed when British
soldiers attacked Charlestown at
the Battle of Bunker Hill on the
morning of June 17, 1775. But a
few potters rebuilt and produced
red earthenware after the
revolution into the late eighteenth
and early nineteenth centuries,
but the industrys impact on New
England was never the same.
Americas newfound
independence seemed to inspire
redware potters throughout
The pile of wasters, kiln bricks, kiln furniture and sherds that we
coastal New England, which saw recovered at the construction site in Peabody, Massachusetts.
many new businesses emerge after Courtesy the author.
Nineteenth-century butter churn
decorated in slip with the name
Lucinda Osborn, 1822. This is
further evidence of the use of
slip decoration at the Osborn
Pottery in Peabody. Courtesy Old
Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, Late 18th- or early 19th-century pitcher attributed to the Southwick
Mass. Pottery in Peabody, alongside an unusual handled pan also from
Peabody. Courtesy Peabody Historical Society.
 1780. This growth continued into
the 1800s, which corresponded
with the birth of new towns and
cities throughout the region.
The industry in Bristol County,
Mass. capitalized with export
opportunities in Rhode Island,
and archaeological evidence
shows that the potters in Peabody
were exporting red earthenware
to Charlestown, Boston and
Dorchester, Mass. in the nineteenth
century.
Overall, there are over 100
documented potters, producing
red earthenware in Peabody in
the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries. But that total does
not entirely reflect the dozens of
Collection of locally made pots which all have a 19th-century history
of ownership in Salem, Mass. The pot on the right is nearly identical undocumented potters, as well as
to a style of pottery that has been uncovered in abundance in Lyon, traveling potters and apprentices.
France in a late 18th-century archaeological context. Courtesy There was even a strong
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA Charlestown influence upon the
earliest Peabody potters.
Besides the Osborn Pottery,
there were plenty of other
successful potteries, such as the
Cook Pottery, the Goldthwaite
Pottery, the Kettle or Kettel Pottery,
the Proctor Pottery, the Southwick
Pottery, the Stone Pottery, the
Trask Pottery, the Whittemore
Pottery and the Wilson Pottery.
The majority of these businesses
were founded in the eighteenth
century and shared the Quaker
faith with the Osborns.
Records indicate that as many
as 34 potters from the Peabody/
Salem area were listed in the local
A large bowl that is attributed to Peabody, which was recovered from military that marched to Lexington
Flagstaff Hill on Boston Common in a mid-19th-century archaeological in April 1775 and, there were at
context. The Peabody pottery industry was exporting to Boston in the least 30 potteries producing red
1800s. Courtesy Boston Archaeology Department. earthenware in this area during
the War of 1812.
Many different forms were
produced in Peabody: jars,
pots, crocks, pans, cups, mugs,
pitchers, vases, chamber pots,
flower pots, yarn holders, jugs,
cruets, spittoons, foot warmers,
porringers, bowls and plates
were all common products. The
Peabody Historical Society owns
a rather interesting milk pan with
two handles for carrying a few
years ago, I found a matching milk
pan at an estate auction at the
eighteenth-century Joseph Mottey
House (Centre Farm) in Lynnfield,
Mass.
Neighboring Salem was a hot
spot for the Peabody potters to sell
Two pitchers, probably from the 18th century, attributed to Peabody. their wares. Extensive archaeology
Courtesy the author.
Page 36 Antiques Journal November 2017 www.antiquesjournal.com
has taken place at the Narbonne
House, a seventeenth-century
home near Salems waterfront,
which remained a middle-class
occupancy through the mid-
twentieth century. A number
of red earthenware artifacts,
including some that were made by
the Osborns, were uncovered from
the privies. The strongest period
seemed to have been between
1770 and 1820, which yielded a
strong concentration of artifacts
related to Essex County. A locally
made red earthenware chamber
pot from a c. 1770 archaeological
context was specifically interesting
since it was decorated with slip,
which had been splashed onto
the pot in a style that was popular
with some French potters in the
late 1700s.
The Peabody Essex Museum
in Salem owns a large collection
of red earthenware, which was
donated to the museum in the early
twentieth century. All of the pottery
retained a history of ownership in
Salem, and it appeared to have all
been locally produced, much of
it by the potteries in the Peabody
area. Among the more fascinating
objects was a locally made, large
handled jar with heavy bands of
incised decoration. Interestingly,
the form, the handles and the
exterior glaze are all similar to
a style of pottery that has been
uncovered in abundance in a late-
eighteenth-century archaeological
context in Lyon, France. It appears
that there was some production in
Essex County that had a French
influence quite possibly from
the French-Huguenot population,
that settled in Salem and Boston
in the eighteenth century.
The fact that so many Quakers
were employed in Peabody is
also fascinating since Quakers
were persecuted for their faith
in Salem in the mid-seventeenth
century. The Southwick family
of potters, for instance, suffered
this persecution: they were the
descendants of Lawrence (1594-
1660) and Cassandra Southwick
who were exiled from Salem in
the late 1650s because of their
Quaker faith.
In Retrospect
Unfortunately, twentieth-
century urban development has
destroyed many of the potters
sites in Peabody; for example,
where a pottery once stood, a
shopping mall was constructed
in its place. This has destroyed a
lot of the archaeology that could
have helped define some of the
lesser-known potters businesses
from this area. Although, it is
unquestionable, that there was
pottery produced in Peabody,
which is mistaken for production
elsewhere in Massachusetts, New
Hampshire and Maine today.
The most identifiable red
earthenware from Peabody today
is likely the pottery that was made
by the Osborns; however, there
were many more businesses,
which produced their own style of
red earthenware, as well.
It is anyones guess as to how
much the pottery industry in
Peabody would have progressed
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if it were not for the sacrifice
of the Charlestown potteries in
1775. The Charlestown industry
was sacrificed for Americas
independence. If it were not for this
sacrifice, the industry in Peabody
may not have seen the success that
it found in the late eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. The demand
for Peabody pottery from Peabody
may not have been as great, and
the export opportunities may have
been fewer. The industry may
have appeared more like it did
before the American Revolution,
where it was mostly producing
red earthenware for local
consumption with Salem serving
as its major market.
The potteries in the Peabody (Left) A large pitcher splashed with slip-decoration; a matching style
area became the largest red of slip is found on a locally made chamber pot that was uncovered
earthenware industry in New in a c. 1770 archaeological context at the Narbonne House in Salem,
England in the late eighteenth and Mass. (Right) Slip-decorated jar that appears to be related to the
pan owned by Old Sturbridge Village and to the sherds that were
nineteenth centuries.
recovered in South Danvers, Mass. Courtesy the author.
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