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Stoneware Crock

(c) Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, Deerfield MA. All rights reserved.
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The clay for this crock came from New Jersey. Moved by boat and by cart to Massachusetts, there potters fashioned crocks, churns, and other vessels from the stoneware clay, glazed them with table salt, and sometimes decorated them with flowers and birds in cobalt. Made for a period of eight years in the mid-19th century in Ashfield, Massachusetts, the finished stoneware was sold by peddlers all over the northeast. Stoneware meant a big improvement in food storage since the salt glaze was less likely to contaminate foodstuffs than earthenware vessels glazed with lead.

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