The preservation society was founded 38 years ago, stated show manager Anne Goda, when discussing the nonprofit group that runs the Stahls Pottery Summer Festival. Held June 21 at the historic Stahls pottery property in a rural area of Zionsville, Lehigh County, Pa., also referred to as Powder Valley, the educational show had 35 ceramic artisans. Set up under tents, present-day potters, vetted by the group, working in traditional and contemporary pottery styles displayed and sold their work. Goda, aside from being the semi-annual festivals manager and lead volunteer at the Stahls Pottery Preservation Society, Inc., wrote her masters degree thesis on the history of the operation. Her husband is a great-grandson of Thomas Stahl. She led guided tours of the buildings and kiln throughout the day. The house museum was open, as was the potting shed. This is the first show weve had the potting shed restored and open during the festival, which is being used as a gift shop, said Goda. Potting demonstrations were also done during the show hours, which ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Raku firing demos took place, a bake sale and large food stand was on-site, and hands-on potting opportunities were available, where children or adults could use a ca. 1930-50 potters wheel and turn their own small piece of pottery. Admission to the show was $5, and parking was free of charge on-site. So, what was the Stahl Pottery? It is a two-part story which includes three generations. In the 19th century, Charles Stahl, born in 1828, apprenticed with John Krauss, a potter in Lehigh County. Charles (1st gen.) went on to open his own pottery making utilitarian pieces, such as plain pie plates, apple butter crocks, milk pans, bowls, and so forth. Nothing was ever signed. He trained three sons, James, Thomas, and Isaac. Charles died in 1896. Isaac (2nd gen.) took over ca. 1901, but the operation soon closed in large part to economic marketplace conditions through large-scale mechanized production during the Industrial Revolution. Thomas (2nd. gen.) bought the property in 1907, and in a roughly 30 year hiatus, the brothers carried on with other employment and both had families with eight children. In the early 1930s, brothers Thomas and Isaac wanted to revive the operation, and this second act was inspired by the Arts and Crafts movement, a revival movement and reaction to mass production brought on through industrialization. From 1934 to 1956, the Stahls made redware using traditional methods with improved glaze recipes. The vast majority of decorative work was marked with the makers name, date, and occasionally the weather or personalized messages/sayings. Items were often decorated with a variety of techniques such as slip trailing or sgraffito incising. Customers were mailed postcards when a commissioned item was to be fired so they could visit the pottery. Kiln firings were community events, and picnics were held. Thomas died in 1942, and the pottery closed during WWII, the years from 1942-47. Isaac died in 1950. Russell (3rd. gen.) was Isaacs son and ran the pottery until 1956. Carrie (Thomass daughter) also worked at the pottery and was a highly skilled decorator. Russell owned the property until his death in 1986. Descendants formed the preservation society in 1987 and purchased the site at public auction. This is what meaningful grassroots preservation action looks like. It took the group 17 years to pay the mortgage. They have restored the site to the ca. 1940 era, put a new roof on the farmhouse and rebuilt/restored many elements to the homestead. The group through the help of volunteers put on the festival every third Saturday in June and first Saturday in October and run a Stahls Family Christmas event held in late November. Since its founding, the Stahls Pottery Preservation Society continues to preserve the Stahls Pottery site and Stahls Pottery artifacts as a historical record and source of education. For additional information, visit www.stahlspottery.org.