Buying Out to Buy In: Ceramic Consumption on the Home Front during the American Revolution in Rural Connecticut

Abstract

Between 1993 and 2003, excavations sponsored by the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center unearthed an 18th-century Anglo-American community in North Stonington, Connecticut. This article analyzes the impact of American Revolutionary–period propaganda on consumer behavior among Lake of Isles, Connecticut, residents. Archaeological patterns suggest that the residents participated in boycotts against British goods that the colonies instituted. This article also proposes that “patriots” bought fewer (or no) British imported ceramics during the Revolutionary period, despite their continuing (albeit limited) availability. A variety of historical sources will be analyzed to demonstrate that the people of Lake of Isles embraced patriotic ideals such as military service and persecuting loyalists.