FASHIONABLE TEA BOWLS AT A HUMBLE PALATINE DWELLING: CERAMICS AS EXPRESSIONS OF IDENTITY & TOOLS FOR COMMUNITY COHESION AT THE MAPLE AVENUE PARSONAGE IN GERMANTOWN, NY

Abstract

Germantown’s Maple Avenue Parsonage (circa 1767) is situated on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately 110 miles north of New York City. This thesis explores the remains of a 10-foot by 14-foot structure identified in the southwestern front yard of the property. The site of the front yard structure consists of numerous ceramic vessels, glass vessels, and building material assemblages. This thesis explores the structure’s age and how the former residents expressed their identities through a three-stage analysis of the site’s building materials, ceramic vessels and their contexts, the site and Germantown’s history, 18th-century consumer trends, and American-German cultural practice in Pennsylvania. Following these examinations, this thesis provides several strong interpretations of the dwelling’s age and the social and consumer practices of people who lived at the site in the 18th century