Smithsonian Institution - United States National Museum - Bulletin 249: Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology; Papers 52-54 on Archeology
David Hume · en
Since there is no evidence that stoneware was being made at this time
in Virginia, other than at Yorktown, it is reasonable to suppose that
the "poor potter's" heirs shipped stoneware all the way to New England
and that they were paid in hard cash, as distinct from tobacco credits,
which would have been the case with local customers. However this
may be, the Rogers enterprise, even if its products were confined to
Virginia, appears to have been extensive, wealth-producing, and quite
the opposite of Governor Gooch's appraisal of it in his reports to the
Board of Trade.
As to the location of his kilns, we know that Rogers owned two lots,
where he apparently lived, at the northern boundary of the town. He
also owned a warehouse by the riverside and other lots on which he was
building dwellings when he died. He owned land at "Tarripin Point" and
two lots in Williamsburg. Governor Gooch repeatedly located the pottery
in Yorktown: "We have here at York Town upon York River one poor
Potter's Work ...," or, "the Potter continues his Business (at York
Town in this Colony)." This is rather good evidence that the kilns were
within the town limits rather than at some outside location, such as
"Tarripin Point." A waterfront location would have been desirable for
many reasons, but, since a potter's kiln would have been a fire hazard
not to only Rogers' but to other warehouses, it is questionable whether
nearby kilns would have been tolerated. English practice was usually
to locate potter's kilns at the far edges of towns or outside their
limits. Nevertheless, there were many exceptions, and kilns sometimes
were located near the water, especially when practical reasons of
convenience in loading ships outweighed the dangers. The North Devon
potteries were heavily committed to water transportation, and at least
two of the kilns at Bideford in North Devon in the 17th century, for
example, were located near the water in what were then densely settled
areas.[228] The North Walk Pottery in nearby Barnstaple was also on the
water's edge, close to a thickly populated area;[229] in 17th-century
America we find a parallel in the pottery of William Vincent, located
at the harbor's edge in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where it was easy
for him to ship his wares along the coast.[230] The 18th-century
potteries of Charlestown, Massachusetts, which also had wide markets,
were clustered along the harbor shore amid a welter of wharves and
warehouses.[231] It is conceivable, therefore, that the Yorktown
waterfront may have been similarly exposed to the dangers of a potter's
kiln, since Rogers transported his wares by water.