Pottery District Stretches from Division St. to the south, Icarus Furniture, just above Ferry St., to the north, and Church St. east to Williams St. Location: South Central Neighborhood Contact: Cheryl MacNeil (518) 270-0978 macred@capital.net

The Pottery District lies at the very heart of the 18th century settlement that became the City of Troy. Here, along Fourth Street south of Ferry Street, a neighborhood of craftspersons built homes and shops. Stoneware potters settled here, and any history of this craft identifies at least a dozen potters living and working here over 70 years. Their works survive important collections in the United States and Europe, and their homes are our homes – well built but modest brick and timber framed dwellings that are among the earliest in the city. Some of our most notable past residents include Isreal Seymour, who’s pottery shops once occupied what is now the Troy Pork Store, Sanford Perry who patented his famous pottery production methods, and potter Orlando Montague and his wife Hannah Lord Montague. It was Hannah Lord Montague who invented the detachable collar.

The Pottery District of today represents a grassroots effort of citizens working together to improve the quality of life in their immediate neighborhood. As a small group of like-minded neighbors, they are dedicated to the revival of their neighborhood, one building at a time. Some of them are new downtown residents. Others are long standing “stick-with-it” Trojans. Like many of the other neighborhood groups, they are active participants in the renaissance of the City of Troy.