WHAT IS THE CHEESEQUAKE?

---

The Cheesquake region of New Jersey is located in Central New Jersey on the Raritan Bay at the mouth of the Raritan River. Today it is a preserved parkland and green area called Cheesequake State Park. The park offers camping, swimming and recreational activities. The park encompasses three natural environments with wooded hills, coastline and swampy lowlands.

The Cheesequake Region is located across Raritan Bay, west of  New York City. During the American Revolution, British troops occupied New York City and there were several skirmishes between Washington's troops and the British, in and around the Cheesequake. The Raritan River and tributaries near the Cheesequake were essential waterways for the mainland to receive goods for the Americans living in New Jersey. Captain James Morgan (1734-1784) was the son of a pioneer land owner and owned farmland in the Cheesequake Region, during the time of the Revolution. He was instrumental during the Revolution, keeping Washington notified of movement of the British ships in Raritan Bay. Morgan's farm was on the bluffs looking over the bay and in a good location for seeing activity of British vessels.

On Captain James Morgan's farmland in the Cheesequake region, a large grey clay deposit was discovered in the early 1700's. This clay was special as it was pliable, dense, and relatively free of impurities. It was perfect for making great pottery! The clay began being mined and used to make stoneware and Morgan began selling the raw clay to potteries. Morgan also owned an Inn and farmed the land in addition to selling the clay. The stoneware clay mined in the Cheesequake was eventually being barged up the Hudson as far as Troy, New York and after the 1820's up the Erie Canal as well. Most of the stoneware that was made in New York State, New Jersey, Eastern Connecticut and Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Eastern Pennsylvania was made with Cheesequake grey clay. This clay held liquids longer, was stronger and lasted longer than red clay, but needed a higher temperature when made. 

After the clay was discovered and began being used by potters, the sale of the "new" clay products which were much better than the "old" clay products began many businesses, and the Cheesequake Region began to attract potters. With poor roads an issue, potters vied for land to build potteries on, near the Cheesequake to keep down the trouble and costs of transporting clay to their potteries. It is thought that Captain Morgan and family members made stoneware in the Cheesequake as early as the 1770's or earlier. In addition to the Morgans there were potters in the Cheesequake Region, or nearby, for the next 100 years, making stoneware. South Amboy, New Jersey was very close to the Cheesequake and was the home of many potters.

The Cheesequake Region could be called the birthplace of American stoneware and this also may be an exaggeration. In New York City on what was called "Potbakers Hill" it is thought, were the first stoneware kilns in America, although there are records of brief American encounters with stoneware making, during the same early times in Virginia, Philadelphia and Boston. It is historically correct to say, that the Cheesequake potteries were some of the earliest sustained potteries making stoneware in America.