Kaolin Clay

“…There’s different types of kaolin, there’s primary kaolin and secondary kaolin.  This is primary kaolin, if you look at it there is a lot more stuff in it, there’s grit in it, there’s pieces of rotten rock in it…”
-Jeff Slade
See Interview Clip

    Kaolin is a very rare, unusual, white clay that is only found a few places throughout the world and used regularly in the manufacturing of pottery.  There are two types of kaolin, primary kaolin and secondary kaolin.  Primary kaolin is a very impure substance with many minerals and other pieces of rock found in it.  Secondary kaolin is a much more pure clay that has been reworked by geologic processes over thousands of years.  This clay is much whiter and has less mineral traces in it. The kaolin found in Bennington is primary kaolin and has many traces of ilmenite (a titanium mineral) in it.

This is the deposit in the Lyon's District in Bennington.  It is located off of North Branch Street.  There are also two other kaolin deposits near Chapel Road, but these were most likely not used by the pottery. “This is the only place I’ve seen kaolin like this…”