Living in New England, there are not that many opportunities to see a lot of 19th-century stoneware from the Edgefield District of South Carolina, although I have viewed some great examples in museums such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
The Edgefield District is located in the western part of the state near the Georgia border, about 30 miles north of Augusta. The area was formed in 1785 and was primarily engaged in agriculture until a thriving pottery industry was developed in the 19th century. Both industries were in some ways conjoined, seeing that some of the Edgefield wares were manufactured for farming and household utilitarian needs.
My interest in the Edgefield wares probably began in the early-2000s, when I first purchased a copy of Lura Woodside Watkins’ (1897-1982) book, “Early New England Potters and Their Wares.” Illustrated in the back of the book is an Edgefield stoneware face jug that was found in Portsmouth, N.H., in the early 20th century, now owned by the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. Most of the Edgefield face jugs in existence today are associated with enslaved African-American potters in the 1850s and 1860s, but there does not appear to be that sort of connection in Portsmouth, even though Samuel Marshall’s (no birth record, d. 1749) pottery in Portsmouth did employ slaves before 1750. Their involvement is recorded in the book, “Black Portsmouth: Three Centuries of African-American Heritage.” “Adam and Mercer were slaves of Samuel Marshall who worked in the pottery. They dug and weathered the clay; they milled and kneaded the clay; they made the glaze; they stacked the kiln; they stoked the fire for the kiln; and addition to all this manual labor, they turned pots on the wheel themselves.”
Interestingly, this is not the only example of Edgefield pottery found in New England through the years. Cape Cod antiques dealer and former art director of the Heritage Museums and Gardens in Sandwich, Mass., Brian Cullity has acquired five different face jugs and a large jar made by Dave Drake (ca. 1801-75) in New England over the last 20 to 30 years. Drake was an enslaved African-American potter who threw pots, jugs, as well as other forms, and he was also known for his literacy based on poems, dates and signatures that adorn some of the forms he made. All of the objects acquired by Cullity came from various contexts of ownership throughout New England.
More recently, though, while visiting Boston in August 2018, my niece Alexis and I found an Edgefield jug in an antique and collectible marketplace in Cambridge. We were told the jug was recently discovered in an old estate within the Boston area. Afterwards, we visited the MFA Boston and thought about the jug that we had just found while viewing three Edgefield face jugs, along with a huge jar made by Drake that are all on display in the museum’s Art of the Americas Wing.
However, after reading about the Edgefield wares for many years and admiring objects that sold at auction in the South and Mid-Atlantic regions, I was thrilled to learn last summer that an exhibit had been assembled at the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina in Columbia by guest curator Philip Wingard and project director Saddler Taylor. The exhibit highlights the wares made by Thomas Chandler, an influential white potter, who is considered by many today to be the most talented potter employed in Edgefield. The exhibition was assembled from both private and museum collections, more than 100 pieces, and took over 20 years to complete.
I finally found the time to visit the McKissick Museum with my nephew, Jason, in June 2019, and the Chandler exhibit was more impressive than I had ever imagined. We were also pleasantly surprised to find that a catalog had been published to coincide with the exhibit, and wares made by different potters in Edgefield are displayed in other areas of the museum.
Thomas Chandler’s Stoneware
Born in Drummondtown (now Accomack), Va., Thomas Mitchell Chandler Jr. (1810-54) learned the potter’s craft in Baltimore, Md., when his family moved to the city in 1817. Chandler’s father, Thomas Chandler Sr., was a Windsor chair maker, and he bought property that was located near some of the potters in Baltimore. Henry Remmey Sr. lived next door, and other potters like William Morgan, whom Chandler worked with, were located only a few blocks away. Chandler was exposed to a great deal of potters during this period, and his earliest known forms represent this exposure in Baltimore. There was also red earthenware made in Baltimore during this period, but Chandler seems to have gravitated to only stoneware production.
In time, Chandler developed into an extraordinary potter. In fact, he is thought to have possibly been a descendant of John Chandler of Fulham, England, who worked for John Dwight (ca. 1637-1703) for a period and was one of England’s first 17th-century stoneware potters.
I viewed a few examples of Chandler’s production in the summer of 2018 while visiting the William C. and Susan S. Mariner Collection of Southern Ceramics at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) in Winston-Salem, N.C. Among the objects on display is a churn made by Chandler that I consider among the most significant pieces of American stoneware in existence today. The churn depicts a landscape scene with a farmhouse, an outbuilding, a cow and a woman churning butter, representing the Chandler family farm or homestead in Virginia. Inscribed on the base of the churn, “Thomas M. Chandler / Maker / Baltimore / August 12 / 1829.” One side of the churn is also dated “1829,” with the name “Mitchell Chandler” inscribed above the date. Mitchell Chandler was Thomas’ uncle, and Chandler likely made the churn as a memento for his aunt and uncle when he would return from Baltimore visiting the family estate in Drummondtown. The churn had descended through the family until it was acquired a few years ago by the Mariners.
According to an article written by Philip Wingard for the 2013 issue of “Ceramics in America,” titled, “From Baltimore to the South Carolina Backcountry: Thomas Chandler’s Influence on 19th-Century Stoneware,” “Thomas Chandler left Baltimore in 1829 and between 1829 and 1832 may have traveled as an itinerant potter. In 1832, he was in Albany, N.Y., where he enlisted in the United State Army. The Army sent Chandler south to Augusta, Ga., and between 1832 and 1836 he served in various capacities and likely worked with several potters in Georgia. Chandler is then believed to be working in Edgefield by 1836, since several of his pieces with decorative slip and dated 1836 have survived in the region.”
Alkaline-glazed stoneware production had been taking place in Edgefield for decades, but upon Chandler’s arrival came an understanding of the industry learned in Baltimore, which helped transform the local business. An interesting aspect about the Edgefield industry is that some of the potteries had access to the railroad and were able to transport wares throughout the region. Not all American potters had the commodity of the railroad system and instead relied heavily on merchants, boats, wagons and the local economy. The railroad helped revolutionize pottery production in America in the 1800s, specifically where industries and urban craftsmen were located.
When I arrived at the Chandler exhibit at the McKissick Museum, I was instantly mesmerized by Chandler’s incredible production created in the backwoods of South Carolina. This was not the typical country production that I was used to seeing in New England. There were dozens of superb pots, jars and jugs to see, and it was evident that the brush-applied iron and kaolin slip-decoration that adorned some of the objects was refined and instantly transformed these utilitarian wares into works of art. Some of the slip even presented a touch of modernism, suggesting how creative some of the potters were in this industry.
As I inspected each object closely, as well as some of the archaeology, I came across a glass case full of face jugs, mostly made by Chandler, but one was possibly manufactured by an enslaved African-American from Edgefield in Chandler’s style. This is a subject that is written about in the exhibit catalog. “Chandler brought the idea of the harvest face vessel to Edgefield. There are six surviving examples from South Carolina, one signed by Chandler and five attributed to him. In Baltimore, potters made similar face vessels, but Chandler’s are more life-like and expressive.”
There is certainly a remarkable aesthetic appeal found in this exhibit. For instance, some of the Edgefield objects reveal a swag and tassel design applied in iron and kaolin slip, whereas a very similar design is demonstrated in cobalt decorated wares from Baltimore. Similarities can also be found in form when comparing some of Chandler’s Edgefield pieces to those made in Baltimore. The exhibit even features slip-script wares from Edgefield, some possibly serving as advertising pieces, while others preached Old Testament scripture.
The variety of forms were quite impressive, including multiple types of jars, jugs, pitchers, pans, a mortar and pestle, bowls, pie plates, chamber pots, a coffee boiler, flasks, water coolers, churns, face jugs, creamers and ring jugs. The broad reach of Edgefield production is represented with objects made in Baltimore to the various connections in Edgefield, as well as Buncombe County, N.C., and the eastern part of Texas.
Thomas Chandler’s Legacy
Once Chandler arrived in Edgefield, he worked with various pottery factories and with multiple partners in the region until he acquired his own pottery shop around 1850, and he continued to manufacture pottery until he died in 1854. Soon after his death, Chandler’s estate was sold, which included over 5,000 pieces of finished stoneware and only a few pieces of greenware or unfired pottery.
After leaving the exhibit at the McKissick Museum, I thought about the significance of what I had just seen and the incredible amount of history that this production represents. It is not just pottery history, either. It is American history. It is Southern history. These surviving pots represent what was happening in the American South during this period. They represent culture, diversity, tradition, and legacy. I was delighted to see this exhibit.
As I thought more about the Edgefield wares, I realized that my understanding of this industry had increased because of this exhibit. I consider Thomas Chandler’s pottery, as well as the wares made by many of the Edgefield potters, especially the enslaved African-American potters, to be among the best stoneware manufactured anywhere in America. The use of brushed iron and kaolin slip-decoration, along with the skilled creativity in form, certainly provides this important industry a competitive advantage when considering its impact in the national picture of historic American pottery.
The stoneware made in Edgefield is special. The wares represent more than just an object. They not only serve as a connection to the people who made the pottery, but they also speak for a time and place in American history that it many ways no longer exists today.

Sources
Taylor, Saddler & Philip Wingard. “Swag & Tassel: The Innovative Stoneware of Thomas Chandler,” McKissick Museum, Columbia, SC, August 6, 2018 – July 20, 2019.
Thomas, Justin W. “A Pioneering Potter: Samuel Marshall of Portsmouth, New Hampshire,” New England Antiques Journal, April 2017.
Watkins, Lura Woodside. “Early New England Potters and Their Wares,” Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1950.
Wingard, Philip. “From Baltimore to the South Carolina Backcountry: Thomas Chandler’s Influence on 19th-Century Stoneware,” “Ceramics in America,” 2013.