For many years we carried a lavender pattern in trays, mugs, and tea cups that was sourced from an Australian company called Ashdene. A couple years ago they quit shipping to the United States as it became prohibitively expensive. As we had sold through a lot of the stock we were carrying, this spring we started wondering about where we could find a new lavender pattern in such items.

We googled our question. And to our surprise a wonderful Virginia company popped up! Emerson Creek Pottery.

We inquired and they approved us as a vendor (they are particular about who carries their product.) So moving forward you will find their wonderful, handcrafted, lavender designed ceramic products in our shop (virtual and online). All made here in Virginia with clay sourced from Pennsylvania. 100% American!

Check out our inventory of Emerson Creek Pottery here.

HANDCRAFTED

Emerson Creek Pottery’s handmade pottery is special. Like snowflakes, no two pieces are completely identical. Our pottery is made by people who handle and shape each piece in many stages prior to the finished pottery arriving in your home. Every step, from mixing clay, forming, finishing, glazing, painting, firing, packing, and shipping, is completed by people. Each piece of our pottery goes through at least eight pairs of hands before finding its way into your hands.

Emerson Creek Pottery, located in Bedford, boasts beautiful ceramic pottery in clean organic designs. Created in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in the American tradition of quality ceramics. We currently feature many different lines of ceramic pottery. Including our beloved signature line, Field of Iris, a classic since 1977. Constantly evolving we add new patterns, glazes, and forms often, such as our new Onyx Black and Pearl glazes, a step back to the basics. All of our work is microwave and dishwasher safe, lead-safe cadmium-safe and ovenproof.

Emerson Creek Pottery’s ceramic pieces have been featured at Mt. Vernon and Monticello and the Smithsonian Institution. Influenced by the energy of Early American cobalt decoration, owner Jim Leavitt founded Emerson Creek Pottery in 1977. With its original log walls, original fireplace, and three double-barrel chimneys, the cabin which houses the Emerson Creek Pottery Outlet Store offers considerable interest to those wishing to steep themselves in the rich history of the region.

Our guests enjoy the opportunity to connect with the past by experiencing the special quality of our handmade ceramic pottery, which continues a true American tradition handed down to us from Colonial times. From humble beginnings in clay and a single potter’s wheel to today, where the pottery is home to a hardworking team that creates beautiful and functional work using sustainable methods and traditional techniques. All clay, glazes and design colors are made on-site with formulas developed and tested over many decades. Inspired by early American Cobalt decoration on stoneware pottery, early work featured simple designs (Lone Pine Tree, Single Iris) hand-painted with a Sumi-e brush over porous glaze and stoneware. Sumi-e brush painting is a 2000-year-old art form developed in Japan. Sumi-e means ‘black ink painting’. Early designs were one hue as Sumi-e implies. Over time, many colors and brush sizes have been added.

THE NAME EMERSON CREEK

Emerson Creek Pottery is named for a historic creek in New England flowing by Emerson House, where the founders first began making pottery. Uxbridge Massachusetts is home to Emerson Brook, which flows into the Blackstone River.

Emerson Brook is mentioned in a 1732 text as a desirable stream running through town with desirable mill sites.

An 1889 book “History of Worcester County, Massachusetts” (Duane Hamilton Hurd/J.W. Lewis & Company) offers: Emerson Brook moves southeasterly…until its confluence with the Blackstone, on the farm of Millins Emerson. Its course is about five miles long, much of the way a very rapid, turbulent water, and has fall enough, if its water could be stored and used to advantage, to run all the machinery now in use in the town. It supplies the power for Lee’s Mills and the mills of Zadok A. Taft. It is one of the finest brook trouts in this section.

THE MOVE TO VIRGINIA

The potters moved from Massachusetts to Virginia in 1977 and built a wood timbered pottery studio on site.

Today the original studio is surrounded by several additions as the production and team have grown. The property was home to the Wade Family, descended from Jeremiah Wade (1724-1772) who settled in Bedford County.

The inventory of Jeremiah’s estate at death included one man’s hat, one old saddle, and one white horse.

Jeremiah’s sons, Isaac Sr, Jacob and Joshua all served in the Revolutionary War; markers in a local cemetery honor the Wade Family’s service in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

Isaac Sr. (1756-1823) had a son Jeremiah (1780-1849) who built the west section of this house in 1825.

In 1862 Silas Wade (son of Jeremiah) purchased the estate of his father (for $1) on both sides of the South Fork of Falling Creek, the same on which said Jeremiah Wade resided at the time of death. Silas Wade (1818-1894), a blacksmith and farmer, built the east addition.

Silas’ son Pleasant Wade (1852-1930) and his children were the last Wades to own the property and live in the Wade House.

In a land transfer record from 1881, Silas & Nancy Wade conveyed to Pleasant, 400 acres on the property he now resides, cattle, sheep, hogs, horses, wagon & harness, and one set of blacksmith’s tools with all my plantation tools of every description.

In a 1922 land transfer, the property description mentions a “Wade’s Shop.”

What is now Emerson Creek’s driveway used to be one of the primary roads in this area, known in 1864 as Shingle Block Road. Wade’s Shop was Silas Wade’s blacksmith shop, once located south of the house.

DESIGN PROCESS

All clay, glazes and paint hues are made on-site here in Virginia with formulas developed and tested over decades. Initial forms are hand-thrown and produced through slip-casting or pressing. Each piece is finished and glazed by hand. Designs are still hand-painted by artists who develop brush techniques to quickly capture the spirit of the complex natural environment. Sumi-e brush painting is a 2000 year old art form developed in Japan. Sumi-e means ‘black ink painting’. Early designs were one hue as Sumi-e implies. Over time, many colors and brush sizes have been added. Each artist who joins the team is trained in Emerson Creek techniques and develops their own style. You will find the artists’ initials on the base of each piece with our name and year.

Here at Seven Oaks Lavender Farm we are super excited about offering you these future heirlooms!