Quarries
Photograph courtesy Howard Greenberg & Bryce Wolkowitz, New York / Nicholas Metivier, Toronto, via Salon.com
Quarries are a fascinating part of Vermont’s landscape and relics of the state’s industrial past.
Travel towards Rutland and Manchester and you’ll see entire towns built on marble and slate industries. In the late 19th century, Barre, Vermont was the granite capital of the world.
Now a lot of abandoned Vermont quarries function as community swimming holes. There’s even a quarry in West Rutland that the Carving Studio and Sculpture Center has turned into a sculpture garden. It’s amazing, all these big marble sculptures against massive carved out rock and remnants of industry.
There’s something about quarries that’s palatial and grand. Their beauty is testament to the force of both human innovation and the earth’s geology.
Check out this slideshow for some stunning pictures of Vermont’s quarries.
Likewise, there are limestone quarries in the north country that have long since grown up in forest. Some are incredibly beautiful bodies of clear, clean water, and I can’t look at one without thinking about living there.