British American Colonial Harvest Jug

This Devon Harvest Jug pictured here was made by Micheal L. Burrey. Burrey apprenticed with the Master Potter at Plimoth Plantation before traveling to England to learn from potters who still practice the old techniques. He uses a kick-wheel and a 1600s style draft kiln. The Devon Harvest Jug is featured on the website Keepers of Tradition.

 Devon Harvest Jug, Michael L. Burrey, Traditional Colonial American /English Pottery, 1999

Like the Wampanoag Cooking Pot (see previous post) made in the style of the First Thanksgiving's Native Americans this Colonial American style harvest jug also describes the four directions.

 Devon Harvest Jug Detail, Michael L. Burrey, Traditional Colonial American /English Pottery, 1999

In Wetu, Wampanoag Cooking Pot

With Thanksgiving coming in a few weeks I began wondering how the American pilgrims might have been influenced by the Wampanoag tribal people, the people they shared that legendary harvest feast with, the feast we now call Thanksgiving. Certainly the Pilgrim's cuisine was influenced. They would have starved if they had not learned to cultivate corn, squash and beans. Some of them did starve. If the Wampanoag shared their food with the pilgrims could it have been in a beautiful pot such as this?

In Wetu, Cooking Pot, Ramona Louise Peters, Wampanoag pottery, 2001
photo: Jason Dowdle

I found Wampanoag artist Ramona Louise Peters on the website Keepers of Tradition: Useful Things Made Beautiful created by the Massachusetts Cultural Council. Peters is inspired by the material culture of her ancestors before European contact. This pot is in the style of a 1600's Wampanoag cooking pot. It would have been used in a single family dwelling called a Wetu. The white inlay was to help locate the pot by firelight in the Wetu. The four points represent the four directions.