KET | Forts Field Trip

Fort Boonesborough Potter

A potter uses clay to make different kinds of containers, such as inkwells, lidded food storage jars, crocks, etc. A foot-powered potter’s wheel keeps the clay spinning to help keep it round while it’s being shaped. The finished vessel is “fired” (dried) in a special extremely hot oven called a kiln to make the pottery hard, durable, and waterproof.

Potters in a fort would have used clay dug locally and a primitive kind of kiln called a groundhog kiln. It was made by burrowing into the side of a hill to create a cave-like hole. The hole was then lined with stone or brick, and a chimney was dug to the surface to allow smoke to escape. Wood or charcoal was used as the fuel for the fire. The name of this kiln comes from its similarity to a burrow that a groundhog (or woodchuck) might dig into a hill.