Site #3: Halesite Park

Take a short trip over to Halesite Park in Huntington to walk into the middle of this painting! A pottery manufactory stood on this site for nearly a century between 1805 and 1902, passing from one owner to another. The good quality clay deposits of the local region made this an ideal location. When Lange painted this lively scene in 1880 George Brown owned the business and employed his brother Thomas as a potter. If you look closely, you can see tiny figures hard at work preparing ceramic pots for shipment by boat and wagon!

At its height, the Brown Brothers Pottery consumed approximately 300 tons of clay a year, burned through 300 cords of wood, and used 60 baskets of salt, which created the salt-glazed finish on stoneware when vaporized in the kiln. For over forty years, the Brown family supplied Long Islanders with beautiful, utilitarian wares that were essential for food preparation and storage. Can you imagine all the places their ceramics might have ended up?