Jerry's Story

“He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings” (Psalm 40:2).

I began making pottery at the age of ten when my mother, Alice (always my greatest influence and encourager), took me to a ceramics studio near our home on Long Island. She let me set up my first wheel in the kitchen (without a splash pan), and my dad helped me build a gas kiln in the backyard. In high school I sold my ware to local restaurants and garden centers.

In 1971, after attending the New York School of Ceramics at Alfred University with a major in ceramic art and design, I married my high school sweetheart and established my business as Beaumont Heritage Pottery, specializing in authentic reproduction salt-glazed stoneware.

My wife and I accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior in 1973. Since that time—even in the darkest times—each pot I have made is signed with the Cross, my initials, and the year.

We moved from New York to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I became the resident potter at the Strawbery Banke Museum. The business and our family began to grow and thrive, so we moved across the river to York, Maine with our two beautiful daughters, Natalie and Leah. Active in church, working with youth ministry, and attending Bible college classes, I had it all.

Then, in 1989, as a result of a series of bad decisions, I lost my family, my company, my home, and my walk with God. I became desperate, having no fellowship and what seemed like no place to turn. I know now that God still held me in His hand.

In 1998, virtually homeless and in debt, my daughters encouraged me to let the Lord take charge of my life again. I hitchhiked out of the mountains of North Carolina with one set of clothes and enough money for a train ticket to Baltimore. I arrived on the Fourth of July—Independence Day.

Since that time, God has fulfilled for us the promise in Joel 2:25-26, which says, “And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten …. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.”

The Lord has blessed every aspect of my life. Within months I was back in business as Beaumont Pottery. I married Janet, and in 1999 we took up residence in our current location in Phoenix, Maryland. We have many true friends, a solid business, and a desire to know God more deeply.

Today, in each piece of pottery, we hope you see the fruit of God’s work. Indeed, He is the Potter, and we are the clay.