Rock Of Ages Quarry

A couple of weeks ago, we visited the Rock of Ages Quarry in Barre, Vermont with Thing One and Thing Two. Usually when we go to touristy places on vacation, I am underwhelmed and not that impressed. Rock of Ages was a place that really impressed me. This granite quarry is one of the largest ones in the US (or the world?). We went on a little tour around the visitors center, and we were able to use a sand blasting machine they have to make our own little granite plaque with a rubber stencil. Very cool. After we did that, we saw the inside of the shop where they carve, polish, cut and engrave the granite into memorial stones, benches, cornerstones, etc. The place is HUGE, and loud. Finally, we got on a bus and rode up the hill to an overlook area where we could see the quarry itself. You can see how big it is in the pictures, supposedly there is enough granite in there for them to cut stone for something ike 4500 years.

When you drive around town, there are a ton of statues and buildings with unbelievable amounts of granite. But the neat thing (and don't think I'm being morbid here) is Hope Cemetary...I've never seen so many interesting intricate memorials and crypts in a cemetary in my life. There is one shaped like a soccer ball, one is a car, an airplane, some are engraved with 18 wheeler truchs, many figures of angels and people, etc. It was really amazing.

Like I said, I'm not usually impressed by 'touristy' things that we do on vacation, but I thought this was amazing. Definitely worth a trip. Never mind that after we left Barre, we went up to Burlington for the Vermont Quilt Festival. I'll share some of that in another post!!