Visit to Vermont granite quarries in Barre is trip into history

If you have driven north on I-89 in recent years, you have probably noticed an ever-growing mountain of white slag on the west side of the road between Bethel and Randolph. The adjacent white granite quarry dates back to the 1800s and is owned and operated by Rock of Ages Corporation.

Prosperity and history intertwine in the exploitation of granite in many parts of the state and Bethel is one of them.

Several state capitol buildings, including in Madison, Wisconsin, were constructed from Bethel granite extracted from one of the earliest commercially operated quarries in the United States. The U.S. Post Office and the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, both in Washington, D.C., are built from Bethel white granite.

The quarry was unused for many years but is once again operating, providing material for the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake, used during the 2002 Winter Olympics, and for the Qatar Convention Center in Doha, Qatar.

Most years, the Bethel quarry operates from March into December, employing 16 workers in two shifts, with an annual yield of 6,000 cubic meters.

Courtesy photo. The Rock of Ages quarry in Barre, the largest operating deep-hole, dimension granite quarry in the world, makes a great day trip.
Courtesy photo
The Rock of Ages quarry in Barre, the largest operating deep-hole, dimension granite quarry in the world, makes a great day trip.

Driving northbound one can see workers on the façade of the granite. Rock of Ages says that with contemporary tools and technology, it is able to extract deeper in the rock at the site of the original 19th century excavations. In addition to diamond wire saws and modern drills, traditional techniques are also used to split stone, feather and wedge, also known as wedges and shims or plugs and feathers. If one is so inclined, YouTube offers videos on how to use feather and wedge.

Consider a visit to the active E.L. Smith Quarry in Barre, flagship operation for Rock of Ages. At 600 feet deep, this quarry claims to be the largest operating deep-hole, dimension granite quarry in the world. In addition, there is a visitor center and nearby factory.

According to the Rock of Ages website (rockofages.com/tours), craftsmen use hand tools in much the same way as Michelangelo did centuries ago. These little-changed, artistic endeavors are mingled with computer-guided, diamond-tipped saws and precision grinders.

The wonders of granite world continue at the Vermont Granite Museum in Barre. Located in a turn-of-the-20th-century granite manufacturing plant, the museum preserves the history and memories of the industry at vtgranitemusuem.org

To add some frosting to your granite cake, allow an extra hour or two to visit Barre’s Hope Cemetery, a true Vermont treasure. A monument to monuments, this hallowed ground hosts dozens of spectacular grave markers, from the poignant and heartbreaking to the irreverent and whimsical. A community of stone carvers has poured its talent and emotions into these memorable gravestones.

One of the world’s few monuments to the 1818 Flu Epidemic sits in Hope Cemetery. Installed in 2018, the 5-ton granite bench is a gift of Brian and Karen Zecchinelli, owners of the nearby Wayside restaurant, which opened 100 years earlier, just a few months before influenza tore through Barre killing nearly 200 people.

The New York Times reported, “One of the dead was Mr. Zecchinelli’s grandfather, Germinio, an Italian immigrant who worked as a craftsman in a local granite factory, one of many in a town that still bills itself as the granite capital of the world.”

Mr. Zecchinelli knew little about his grandfather’s life, which lasted just 35 years, so he spent months researching his death. He quickly became fascinated not just by the flu, but by its near total disappearance from our collective memory.

During three terrifying years, 50 million died across the world, 675,000 Americans among them. The inscription on the granite bench reads, “1918 Spanish Flu Memorial.” Chiseled on the back, “Over 50 million deaths worldwide.” (vermonter.com/hope-cemetery)

A favorite Vermont day for me is to pick up a sandwich in Middlesex at Red Hen Bakery and venture to Barre. There’s so much to see in our own backyard and fall color might be a bonus.