Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

KENNEBEC HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Hallowell to hold quarry tours

One pit has been drained

By Keith Edwards kedwards@centralmaine.com
Staff Writer

HALLOWELL -- Curious what's been lurking down in the depths of the Hallowell quarries the many decades they've been full of water?

click image to enlarge

EXPOSED: An old rail bed, foreground, and a crane have been exposed to light at the Hallowell granite quarries after owner Lenny Nason has commenced draining them.

Staff photo by Andy Molloy

click image to enlarge

HARVESTING STONE: This century-old postcard image shows the Hallowell granite quarry when it was in full operation.

Related headlines

• Class ring found 27 years later at bottom of quarry

Select images available for purchase in the
Maine Today Photo Store

Sunday, you can come have a look for yourself. The Kennebec Historical Society is sponsoring a free tour of the quarries at 2 p.m.

One of the pits has been drained, exposing equipment once used to remove fine granite to be used in prominent buildings across the country.

Lenny Nason -- owner of the quarry property and Granite Works LLC, the company he formed to restart quarrying operations there -- will lead the tour.

Anne Cough, program and publicity chairwoman of the Kennebec Historical Society, said that when she heard the quarry had been drained, it sounded like an interesting thing for people to be able to see.

"I'm sure there are thousands of people who go by and don't even know it exists," Cough said. "History is right in our backyard."

Nason, 77, started pumping water out of one of the two large quarries on his 7.5-acre property in March with the idea of reopening it so he can begin selling granite from the site, which shut down some 80 years ago.

For 185 years, Hallowell granite taken from the two quarries Nason now owns established a reputation as some of the finest-grained, lightest-colored granite in the world. Stone produced from the quarry off Winthrop Street was used in the Manhattan Bridge Archway; the Maine State House; the Pilgrim Monument in Plymouth, Mass., the Pullman Monument in Chicago; and the New York State Capitol plaza in Albany.

After the quarries closed, they filled with spring and rain water. They served as an unsanctioned swimming hole, especially popular with young risk-takers who jumped from its cliffs, for many years.

Cough said the historical society also plans to host a presentation on the Hallowell granite industry in October by local historian Sam Webber.

Tour participants will meet at 414 Winthrop St., just west of the quarry site, toward Manchester, at the offices of Nason's Granite Works.

Cough suggests people wear good shoes or boots -- sandals or heels are not recommended -- and might want to bring a walking stick and camera.

Keith Edwards -- 621-5647

kedwards@centralmaine.com