"P" is for Pottersville

"P" is for Pottersville. Pottersville originated in Edgefield District between 1819 and 1820 around the stoneware factory of Abner Landrum a mile and a half north of the town of Edgefield. Landrum’s was the first significant stoneware factory in the district. The owner established the community for the factory’s free tradesmen and enslaved workers, but other craftsmen whose trades supported the wares manufacture and transportation lived in the village. By the 1830s, the settlement had a population of 150 persons. Pottersville workers produced strong, utilitarian stoneware vessels with a unique alkaline glaze that Landrum is thought to have introduced into South Carolina. Perhaps the most recognized craftsman from Pottersville is the slave potter named Dave, whose ceramic work is recognized for its enormous size and strength—and for the verses he wrote on the vessels.