In
early America, every community of significance probably had its own pottery.
Nature, however, provided Huntington with plentiful deposits of excellent
clay, and the industry it spawned was viable for over a century. This
exhibit celebrates the people and products which brought this clay to the
public.
Native
Americans were the first to use the plentiful deposits of clay which had been
deposited on Long Island by glacial drift. They made pots and bowls of
very good quality but, as they did not know how to fire them at a high
temperature they were fragile and few survived.
Early colonists engaged in clay mining and established an enterprise long
before a formal potting business started in Huntington. Clay deposits
within the town's borders were exploited as early as 1751, but first pottery in
Huntington wasn't established until 1783. Brickyards, the major clay-based
industry on Long Island, also began to dot the shores including major ones in
Huntington.
The Huntington potteries were located on the east shore of Huntington
Harbor. This was ideal, as wares could be easily marketed throughout the
island, to New York City, and across the sound to Connecticut.
In
the 1840's Frederick Caire, a member of a Poughkeepsie family of potters, came
to Huntington to work in the pottery. He became manager and then partner
when it was purchased by
his
father in law, Isaac Scudder Ketcham and Francis S. Hoyt. He was an
unusually fine craftsman and thus the stoneware of this period is among the best
produced in Huntington.
Pottery operations remained small and traditional, with only five employees,
as late as 1860. Horses were used to grind the clay and haul the finished
products and foot power was used to turn the potter's wheel. Kilns were
fired with wood, which was the most costly raw material the pottery consumed.
In
early America, every community of significance probably had its own pottery.
Nature, however, provided Huntington with plentiful deposits of excellent
clay, and the industry it spawned was viable for over a century. This
exhibit celebrates the people and products which brought this clay to the
public.
Native
Americans were the first to use the plentiful deposits of clay which had been
deposited on Long Island by glacial drift. They made pots and bowls of
very good quality but, as they did not know how to fire them at a high
temperature they were fragile and few survived. 
In
the 1840's Frederick Caire, a member of a Poughkeepsie family of potters, came
to Huntington to work in the pottery. He became manager and then partner
when it was purchased by
his
father in law, Isaac Scudder Ketcham and Francis S. Hoyt. He was an
unusually fine craftsman and thus the stoneware of this period is among the best
produced in Huntington.
Pottery operations remained small and traditional, with only five employees,
as late as 1860. Horses were used to grind the clay and haul the finished
products and foot power was used to turn the potter's wheel. Kilns were
fired with wood, which was the most costly raw material the pottery consumed.