Pottery Signatures
Bybee Pottery Bybee, Ky
Bybee Pottery, is a 200-year-old pottery company
based in
Bybee, a community in
Madison County,
Kentucky,
USA. It was founded in 1809 by Webster Cornelison and
members of the same Cornelison family continue to make and
sell pottery today. Bybee Pottery sells a wide variety of
products and encourages customers to interact with the
artisans and tour the building that has survived six
generations and the Civil War.
Bybee Pottery is considered the oldest pottery operation
in the
United States west of the
Appalachian Mountains. Employees still procure the
yellow clay from a nearby source close to the banks of the
Kentucky River. A family cousin, Ron Stambaugh, owns a
retail outlet that sells Bybee pottery among other items
under the name, A Little Bit of Bybee. Although rumors and
news reports suggest the business is soon to close, the
current owners have no plans of closing the doors.
In February 2011, Bybee Pottery laid off its eight
remaining employees, sold off remaining in-store inventory
and suspended operations. While it is neither producing nor
selling products at this time, owners have stated that there
is product formed that could be fired.
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