Alabama Stoneware & Pottery
Welcome to Bill Garland's Alabama stoneware web site. I collect both merchant advertising jugs and hand turned stoneware that were produced by Alabama potters or for Alabama merchants. I'm always interested in meeting new friends to share and learn about Alabama's rich heritage. The stoneware tradition runs deep across our state. Salt glaze pottery appeared in the 1830's along the shores of Mobile Bay. Names such as LaCoste and Marshall (Mareschal) attest to the French connection in the early years of this former French colony. Other potters moved west from the Atlantic Piedmont, bringing their alkaline and salt glaze traditions to the state. While alkaline glazes were popular with most potters, some also used salt glazes. By the late 1800s, potters were scattered across the state, many with local styles and glazes that allow present-day collectors and historians identify their wares. We are fortunate in Alabama to have a detailed account of these potters published by Joey Brackner (2006) in his book "Alabama Folk Pottery".
I started collecting Alabama stoneware and advertising jugs in 1985. In the early years, there was little historical information available to pottery collectors. As time passed, we learned a great deal about the potters that lived in and passed through Alabama. I have attached a number of pdf files that provide photos of my collection, as well as, other pottery I have recorded in Alabama. Hopefully, this will aid others in identifying their pottery.
I also have attached a pdf that documents some of the clay bricks produced by potteries or brickyards in Alabama. Stoneware potteries, such as the Eichellbergers south of Oxford, is suspected to have produced some the finest stoneware pottery in the Southeast. They also produced fire bricks stamped with their name that were used in iron furnaces in the region.
I’m always interested in documenting, trading or buying new stoneware. Please feel free to contact me for further information.