Potter Hero of Hempstead County Mike Foley Keeps Native Craft Alive
In Hempstead County the long tradition of pottery thrives at Spring Hill where Mike Foley, a 75 year old potter born in Kirkcaldy Scotland, runs a small workshop with four men. The article traces Foley’s life from apprentice to last survivor of the county’s potteries, describes his brick kiln and glazing process, and notes the craft’s deep roots in Native and global glazing history.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mike Foley
Hempstead County
Mike
Jim McKee
Hope
Spring, Hill
Spring Him
Teddy O'Neal
Hal Leopard
Hanson Place
Foley Father
Foley
Spring Hill
Scotland
Hope Industry Shines with Two Million in Shipments
R P Bowen highlights Hope's manufacturing strength surpassing watermelons in value. Local plants like Bruner Ivory Handle, Slope Brick Works, Hope Basket Co, Temple Cotton Oil, Hope Heading Co, and Socvel under Hudson & Douglas employ hundreds, paying over a million dollars yearly in labor and materials, with products shipped nationwide and to fifteen foreign countries.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
RE. P
Bowen
Hope Chamber of ‘Commerce
Hope
United States
Bruner-Ivory Handle Company
South
Cora
Ivory Handle
W. E. Bruner
W. C. Bruner
R. M. Bruner
Guy Eb, Basye
Slope Brick Works
O'Neal
Norris
Earl O'Neal
Hope Basket Co
Hope Basket Company
Walter Berhalen
B. L. Kaufman
Hope Chamber of Commerce
Potter Foley and His Spring Hill Pottery Firm
The article describes Mike Foley, an Irish born potter from Scotland lineage, working at Spring Hill. It notes the finished pieces burned in after firing and the conditioning of pit-raw clay before molding. It highlights Foley’s wheel work and glazing vat within a well established Red River craft era.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Mike Foley
Spring Hill
Red River
Process of making pottery step by step
The clay is conditioned in a soaking pit and ground in a clay mill. It is modeled on a potter scene wheel. The wet pottery is dried, then glazed. Finally the pottery is placed by the kiln where the glaze is baked in. The kiln is fired and the pottery baked for about a week before market.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Spring Hill
Mr. Foley
Ocean Transport Scale in Wind Tunnel Ice Test
New York report says a complete scale model of the Hoeing transatlantic plane underwent refrigeration tests in Goodrich wind tunnel at Akron. Water blown at 65 degrees formed ice and sleet particles in a fifth of a second, marking the first time a full aircraft model faced such conditions after two years of exhaustive testing.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
New York
Walter
Goodrich
Akron
Also Mentioned on This Page
Mike Folas Pottery
Spring ‘Hill
Piniaick Tee
Old China
Philadelphia
R. P, Bowen
Hope Heading Co
Hope Heading
George S. Meehan
Socvel
Hudson & Douglas Company
Little Rock
Memphis
Hone Star
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!