Pottery

Throughout the site were vast quantities of pottery shards. For the most part these fragments were small and reflect the fact there was no waste disposal system to haul the garbage away. Typical disposal locations were abandoned privy pits which we have not yet found - though there was a large garbage pile at the southwest corner of the building. Interestingly, a door had been punched through the south wall of the kitchen to that corner, apparently a shortcut to outside that avoided the addition.

A truly remarkable find in the basement was a small broken plate near the north foundation wall under the 3rd bent. The subject is a steam paddle wheeler with the banner 'British America' and Montreal in the background. It appeared it was thrown against the wall. The makers mark was 'Davenport' of North Staffordshire, used between 1810 and 1825. It seems this was a commemorative plate for the opening of the Lachine Canal in 1825. This together with the Erie Canal allowed deep hauled vessels to reach Lake Ontario from the ocean.

Other pottery finds spanned the complete spectrum of pottery expected for Ontario. Many fragments were of the blue chinoiserie typical of most of the 19th century.

One pattern that was consistently found throughout the site was the shell edged style typical of the late 18th and early 19th century - some in large pieces. This pottery was produced from 1785 to 1840 and likely belonged to Rebecca Ham.

Figure 2. Shell Edge pottery, 1785-1840.