European Style Pottery Making in South Carolina: 1565-1825

Summary

The first European potters in South Carolina worked at the Spanish settlement of Santa Elena between 1565 and 1585. When the English established their permanent settlement at Charleston in 1670 pottery making was not a consideration. Andrew Duche, son of Philadelphia potter Anthony Duche moved to Charleston in the early 1730s and worked there briefly before moving south to Georgia. Another potter working in the European tradition moved to the frontier township of Purysburg later in the 1730s, and fired at least one kilnload there. Non-European style Colono and Colono-Indian wares served the needs of the population's majority- the enslaved- so pottery and industry in general were ignored until a young physician and entrepreneur discovered the secret of making stoneware with a lead free alkaline glaze around 1810, and established an industry that would thrive for a hundred or so years.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for Historical Archaeology 2016   •
• The Production and Archaeological Analysis of 18th and 19th Century American Ceramics

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Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 462