The Gettysburg Quarry in Vermont!

Joined
Nov 26, 2016
Location
central NC
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The Gettysburg Quarry in Dorset, VT during its heyday. (Facebook-Town of Dorset, VT)

I’ve never visited Vermont, but I know it is well known for its long marble quarrying history. The town of Dorset is home to Dorset Quarry, the oldest marble quarry in the nation. What I didn’t know is that Vermont is home to Gettysburg Quarry, a lesser-known quarry that has direct ties to the Civil War.

The Gettysburg Quarry was once a bustling operation. It shipped blocks of marble out to create thousands of headstones for the soldiers who died in Gettysburg, hence the quarry's name. The quarry was abandoned a long time ago, but I read that you can still hike to it through the Owls Head Town Forest. The trail is advertised as “just 1/2 mile long and a little steep.” Along the trail there are stone constructions referred to as cellar holes. These are the remnants of the migrant worker housing from when the quarry was in operation during the Civil War.

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Courtesy of All Trails/John Woodward

The rock at the end of the trail is described as “imposing,” but was likely much more so for the workers who harvested the marble for so many Civil War graves.

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Courtesy of All Trails/Sandy McNair
@DBF, have you ever visited this quarry? Have any of my Northern friends explored this trail?
 
Not familiar with this quarry - but I grew up near Westerly, RI, and know of the Smith Quarry - and was aware of their contributions to Civil War Monuments, especially at Gettysburg. Found this article regarding this:

“The granite industry in Westerly began to boom in the 1860's, due to the high quality of local granite, a social trend toward ornate gravestones, and demand for monuments to commemorate the Civil War. It was necessary to have tradespeople of advanced skill to perform the fine cutting and carving required for these monuments. This led to the growth of the local industry as granite cutters, designers, sculptors, and draftsmen moved to Westerly from Europe and other granite areas in the United States. Demand grew even Westerly granite was utilized in numerous monuments all over the United States. Some of the most famous are the Soldiers' National Monument in Gettysburg, for which Westerly granite was used in the base of the monument. Westerly granite is used in more monuments at Gettysburg than any other source of granite, with the exception of the Quincy, Massachusetts company of Frederick & Field.
https://library.brown.edu/riamco/xml2pdffiles/US-RWe-msGR01.pdf

This photo is part of exhibit at the Babcock/Smith House a museum of the industry which I have toured and looks like the one you posted.

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(Photo - Babcock Smith Museum)
http://www.babcocksmithhouse.org/GraniteIndustry/Granitecompanies/SmithGraniteCo/Hall Shaft.html

“The battlefield parks quickly filled up with memorials — many made of Westerly granite. At least 74 of the 1300 monuments (or six percent) at Gettysburg are from Westerly granite and there are 38 Smith Granite Company Memorials at Chickamauga.”
http://www.babcocksmithhouse.org/GraniteIndustry/NewspaperSeries/graniteweek27.pdf

From a quarry in Westerly to a statue at Gettysburg.

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(Courtesy of Carptrash at English Wikipedia)
 
I've been to Dorset about 10-years-ago and the white marble is everywhere. Now this explains something that I wondered about at the time. I saw in someone's yard, just leaning up against their foundation a CW engraved tombstone of white marble. In fact, I saw several and I couldn't figure out what anyone was doing with private tombstones in their yard. I wonder now if they were rejects in someway or what. Not that there are a lot of sidewalks in Dorset but they are also white marble. I never knew about this trail to go on or I would have wanted to do that for sure.
 
I've never been to the Gettysburg Quarry and really was never aware of its existence until I saw this thread.

But I have been to Dorset, VT. Back in the '60's, my mother and father would occasionally take me to summer stock performances at the Dorset Playhouse. The playhouse was run by the Carmichael family back then, and the productions were very good.

From what I'm able to find on the Internet, it appears that there are two different groups operating in the Dorset Playhouse nowadays. There is a group called the Dorset Players (dorsetplayers.org), whose season runs from October through May. They seem to be the descendants of the Carmichael organization. Then there is a second group called the Dorset Theatre Festival (dorsettheatrefestival.org) that operates from June through September.

If anybody plans a trip to Dorset to visit the quarry, you might want to take in a show at the playhouse.
 
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