Tippet Pipes - revisited
Tippet Pipes D uring the 1987 excavations at Schoharie Crossing in Fort Hunter, New York, Archeologists Charles Fisher and Kevin Moody unearthed dozens of clap pipe fragments. These kaolin clay smoking pipes are wonderful evidence of the sociological aspects of the early settlement in the area and the garrisoning of Fort Hunter. Of those fragments, at least 15 were indicated to be of manufacture by the R. Tippet family of pipe-makers in Bristol, England. Bristol, an English port city having a trade history spanning back prior to the 15th century, was undergoing a renewal of industry with the success of British North American colonialism. What one finds as they look into the manufacturing of the Tippet pipes proves to be a fascinating look at how so many fragments of could be discovered not only at a small site in the Mohawk Valley of New York, but across many more like it in North America. Tippet pipes bare a registered trademark and fragments or entire pieces have
