Garden Crockery

People

Associated Person: Austin Harman and Family
Associated Person: George W. Slusher and Family

Date

1860s-1940s

Places

Rush Fork (Burks Fork District)

Material/Medium

Glass, ceramics

Specifications

Pieces range in diameter from 1/2 inch to 3 inches

Description

Collection of approximately seventy-five glass and ceramic sherds picked up in a freshly plowed garden on Rush Fork. Some of the glass pieces appear to have been heated to the point of melting. Clear, green, blue, and pressed glass designs were collected, including fragments of blue canning jars. Pieces of crocks and dishes made of clay were also found.

Keywords

Ashes for gardens, ceramic sherds, glass canning jars

Notes

Ashes from wood-burning fireplaces and stoves are spread on vegetable gardens to lower soil pH and to add calcium, potassium, and other minerals to the soil. Before public landfills and dumpsters were available, pieces of broken glassware or ceramic dishes would be swept up and initially disposed of in fireplaces.

The garden in which these pieces were found has been cultivated continuously since the 1860s when Austin and Sarah Harter Harman built a home and began farming on Rush Fork. In 1892 George William and Clemmie Corn Slusher bought the property; it has remained in the Slusher family since then. This photo shows the Slusher family around 1910. The garden is to the left of the house.