Look Back: Brickmaking in Colonial Williamsburg

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Jason Whitehead, checks fire pits as he and others stoke a brick kiln in their last day of stoking at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Larry Reynolds, volunteer, clears a fire pit to stoke a brick kiln at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Joe Fudge / Daily Press

Hank Cochran arranges bricks into the firing place at the Colonial Williamsburg brickyard. (1988)

Dave Bowman / Daily Press

Witten Salisbury front in red vest hands firewood to Mark Scienider who throws the wood into the brick kiln at colonial Williamburg. Once the fire inside is hot enough; clay is fired to make the bricks. John Hallman at right will cover the fire tunnels with a metal panel after the fire is stoked. (1999)

Daily Press Archives

Brickmaker Theodore Richard puts finishing touch on brick make in Colonial Williamsburg's most recent addition to its crafts program in 1971.

Joe Fudge / Daily Press

Walter Davies, a Colonial Williamsburg employee, sorts bricks made using 18th-century techniques. (1988)

Thom Slater / Daily Press

Matthew Rau puts molded clay in the sun to dry in 1979.

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Jason Whitehead, checks the top of a brick kiln as he and others stoke the fire pits to bring a brick kiln around 1850 degrees in their last day of stoking at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Wes Watkins, helper, clears a fire pit to stoke a brick kiln at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Thom Slater / Daily Press

A fraction of the bicks produced every summer stand in a pile on Botetourt Street. (1979)

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

The top of the kiln is covered by bricks to keep the kiln around 1850 degrees as brickmakers stoke the fire pits with wood at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Frames come out the top of a brick kiln as brickmakers stoke the fire pits with wood to bring a brick kiln around 1850 degrees in their last day of stoking at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Thom Slater / Daily Press

Lew LeCompte scrapes clay from the brick mold in 1979.

Joe Fudge / Daily Press

Hank Cochran arranges bricks into the firing place at the Colonial Williamsburg brickyard. (1988)

Joe Fudge / Daily Press

Colonial Williamsburg worker Bill Weldon fires a load of bricks in an old oven near the historic city's restored area in August 1988. Thr brick makers were firing the bricks they had been making all summer in Colonial Williamsburg.

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Jason Whitehead, center, Colonial Williamsburg brickmaker, and helpers, Brandon Ulland, left, and Larry Reynolds, right, stoke the fire pits with wood to bring a brick kiln around 1850 degrees in their last day of stoking at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.

Sangjib Min / Daily Press

Jason Whitehead, second left, Colonial Williamsburg brickmaker, and helper, Brandon Ulland, left, stoke the fire pits with wood to bring a brick kiln around 1850 degrees in their last day of stoking at the Colonial Williamsburg on Monday, October 23, 2006. The brickmakers spent 5 days in a round-the-clock effort to keep the fire for making 17,000 bricks.