Redware

Many pieces produced by Plymouth Pottery Guild members have been described as “attractive low-fired red ware.” (Folk Arts and Crafts of New England, Daniel Foley, Priscilla Lord Chilton Books, 1965) 

Red ware is a kind of pottery made with clay that has a high content of iron and turns red when fired. During the pre-Revolutionary period, colonists were required to send all raw materials, including clay, to England—but clay was abundant, and some colonists kept clay to produce red ware for their own households. 

In the early years before the 1950s, Katherine Alden dug her clay from a pit near the Jones River in Kingston. This was a work-intensive process whereby the clay had to be washed, sieved, and dried. She often had help from neighborhood children and one can imagine their joy at being paid to play in the clay. 

When that clay supply was used up, Alden tried using clay found at Plymouth Beach. Eventually, she bought her clay from Newton Pottery.