Pottery Kilns on Lot 38

Pottery Kilns on Lot 38. Archaeological Site. , Though Salem's main pottery shop and kiln were located across the street on Lots 48 and 49, potters fired some of their most innovative work here on Lot 38. Once a vacant lot used for storage by the town's first master potter, Gottfried Aust, Lot 38 became the location for the pottery kilns. Aust's successor Rudolph Christ (who had been Aust's apprentice and was Salem's master potter from 1789 to 1821) built the first kiln here to experiment with new techniques. He became well known for his fine earthenware products, including zoomorphic bottle forms like the one shown below. Because none of these forms have been found around his Bethabara shop, which he ran following his work with Aust, he apparently began making them after he took over the Salem pottery. They certainly became popular through the early 19th century, as an 1821 inventory of Christ's shop indicates that he was producing them in large quantities. Its role in Salem's pottery operations make further excavation on Lot 38 important to the study of the highly significant Moravian pottery tradition.