Presbyterian minister John M. Wilson came to this area in 1856 with his family and slaves, and because earthen vessels were major 19th-century food storage items, he established a pottery kiln in this vicinity in 1860. After he sold his interest in the business in 1869, three of his former slaves began their own pottery shop. James, Hiram, and Wallace Wilson operated H. Wilson & Co. until 1884, created their own style of pottery, and ran a successful business during the Reconstruction Era, when many newly freed slaves found work only as sharecroppers.