Visiting the Pottery at Searchwell
Coles Pottery was established in 2002 at my home, Searchwell, located on Manor Church Road in Boonsboro, Washington County, Maryland. The gallery is open to visitors by chance and by appointment. Please phone me at 240.446.9552. As of September 2009, with the addition of Blair Meerfeld, the pottery was renamed the Pottery at Searchwell.
Visitors coming to the Pottery at Searchwell cross one lane bridges on winding old country roads lined with stone fences and surrounded by the rolling landscapes of the Cumberland Valley. The pottery stands in the shadow of South Mountain.
Searchwell was built circa 1800 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is featured in the book Architectural and Historical Treasures of Washington County, Maryland by Patricia Schooley. Most of the original features of the house remain intact. Most of the chestnut floors; nearly all the window panes, wood trim, and fireplace mantels; and much of the hardware on the doors and windows are original; as is the egg and dart plaster molding used in the cornice of the front parlor. Some of the paint on the staircase and doors is original, as is the faux marble painted on the trim in the parlor.
One of the most unique features of our home is the wall separating two of the upstairs bedrooms. It is built of vertical beaded boards, with chair rails and baseboards on both sides, and is hinged at the ceiling. The wall could be raised by a rope and pulley, and then secured to the ceiling with the large eye screws that are still in place. When the wall was raised, the two rooms created one expansive space that was the Sunday meeting place of the settlers who worshipped here in the early 1800’s. Hence the name Manor Church Road.
Visitors can see a perfect example of nineteenth century farm life.
All of the stone outbuildings still exist in their original condition.
Visitors can see the stone bake house with the brick oven where
servants prepared breads and baked goods. A small work and waiting
room can be entered from inside the bake house or from a separate
outside door. Beside the bake house is the stone smoke house with its
original rotating post used for hanging meats as they were smoked.
The stone springhouse is located near the kiln. The spring is still
active and empties into the creek that runs across a corner of the
property. A massive stone wall separates the house from the lower
part of the property. On another corner of the property is the
blacksmith shop, with the remains of its furnace.
The pottery studio is housed in a two story stone building that was once a
cottage for the servants. Renovation included the addition of
electricity, baseboard heat, and new plaster walls. Most of the
original woodwork and flooring is still in place, as is some of
the original blue-green paint going up the stairs. The gallery is
located in a room inside the house that we understand served as the
church office, which one enters through a door from the lower level
of the double porch.
Boonsboro is located in Western Maryland and is very close to Antietam Battlefield National Park; Shepherdstown and Harpers Ferry, West Virginia; the Appalachian Trail and the C & O Canal.