List of Quarries in Alabama & Quarry
Links, Photographs and Articles

• Echols’ Mills, Alabama – Dolomite Quarries (excerpts from Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, Bulletin 18,” by William F. Prouty, Geological Survey of Alabama, 1916)

  Figure 30. Showing the location of a part of the Chewacla dolomite marble deposits, pp. 95.

  “About 5 miles southeast from Opelika, Lee county occurs a narrow strip of highly crystalline dolomite (see thin section Plate VI A). This dolomite is for the most part a beautiful pearly white stone. The belt in which the dolomite occurs is about a third of a mile wide and is known to extend for several miles in a northeast and southwest direction (see map of the area, Figure 30). This stone has been quarried extensively in the past for lime. The chief quarry is located near Chewacla in the NE of the SE. of S. 4, T. 18, R. 27-E. Quarries in this dolomite have been opened at several places in the past, including Echols’ Mills and Springvilla.

  “Chemical Analysis shows the stone to be nearly pure dolomite.

  “A light colored talc occurs in some of the layers in small streaks and spots and where present in considerable amount would interfere with the use of the stone for ornamental purposes. It is probable that there are portions of the deposits free from the talc impurity, and if prospecting proves this to be the case we would have here a first-class building stone.

  “The Chewacla dolomitic marble is almost identical in appearance with the Cockeysville dolomitic marble of Maryland, so much used in and about Baltimore.”

• Elkmont, Alabama – Rogers Group Inc Limestone Quarry, 22917 Easter Ferry Road, Elkmont, AL 35620 (present-day company)
• Elmore County, Alabama - Tennessee Valley Limestone Quarry. Tennessee Valley Limestone Company has one limestone quarry in Elmore County, Alabama. In 1995 the headquarters was in Arab, Alabama. [In 1995 the Tennessee Valley Limestone Company was one of the ten leading dimension stone operations in the United States with sales greater than $500,000. (From United States Geological Survey, "Mineral Industries Surveys - Directory of Principal Dimension Stone Producers in the United States in 1995," prepared in January 1997.)]
• Flat Rock on Sand Mountain, Alabama - Sandstone Quarries. The stone quarried from these quarries are "Pennsylvanian conglomeratic sandstone (which) was a portion an ancient barrier beach deposit." Blocks of pink sandstone from Sand Mountain were used for the façade of the Department of Education Building in Chattanooga, Tennessee. (See the booklet for an explanation for the cavities seen in the sandstone.) (See the photograph section, 37. Department of Education.) (From Building Stones of Downtown Chattanooga, (Tennessee), by Robert Lake Wilson, 1979. The digital PDF version is available through the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Geology Program, Department of Physics, Geology and Astronomy.)
• Fort Payne, Alabama - the Fort Payne Stone Works (The following information is from the "Notes From Quarry and Shop" section in Stone: An Illustrated Magazine, Vol. XI, No. 6, November, 1895, Frank W. Hoyt, Publisher, New York, pp. 350.)

  "The announcement is made in the Fort Payne, Ala. Journal that Messrs. Folsom and Saunders have purchased the Fort Payne stone works and will at once put the plant into operation. Messrs. Folsom and Saunders are the proprietors of the Fort Payne Basket Co., a concern which employs about 200 hands, and which is the only industry which has been carried on in that noted city."

• Fort Payne, Alabama - Rock Quarry in the DeSoto State Park at Route 1, Box 205, Fort Payne, AL 35967, 205-845-5380. This web site is presented by the Civilian Conservation Corps in DeKalb County, Alabama.

  “...Many of the original structures are still standing and used in the park. Located off the white hiking trail is the rock quarry where many long hours were spent by the CCC removing the large stones for construction of a variety of facilities and structures. An old star drill, wedged in a rock, still remains after 60 years. This old tool can be located at the CCC rock quarry on the white hiking trail.”

• Gainestown, Alabama - Fossiliferous Limestone Deposit at Gainestown (from Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, Bulletin 18,” by William F. Prouty, Geological Survey of Alabama, 1916, pp. 93)

  “Tertiary Marble

  “In the St. Stephens or Vicksburg limestone of the Tertiary formation, at Gainestown, St. Stephens and other localities, there are numerous occurrences of hard fossiliferous limestone which takes a good polish, and from its pleasing colors, red, yellow, gray, etc., should be good for decorative purposes. None of this marble has yet (circa 1916) been utilized, nor have any of the occurrences been investigated as t their commercial possibilities.”

• Gate City, Jefferson County, Alabama – Ruffner Mountain Limestone Quarry (Limestone) – The old quarry area is now a part of the Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve, presented on Wikipedia.

  • Ruffner Mountain Quarry Trail, presented on AllTrails, National Geographic.  (includes several photographs of the old quarry along the trail.)
• Glencoe, Alabama - Dive Land Park - Stone Quarry used as a Dive Spot.
• Greensport (near), Shelby County, Alabama - Marble Deposit near Greensport (from Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, Bulletin 18,” by William F. Prouty, Geological Survey of Alabama, 1916, pp. 92-93)

 “Near Greensport, Shelby County

“According to M. Tuomey,* ‘A very elegant marble occurs above Ashville. It is gray with bright yellow and greenish veins. It occurs in thin beds in a ridge cut in two by Canoe Creek, not far from where the road to Greensport diverges from the Ashville road.’”

(* Page 93 footnote: Second Biennial Report on the Geology of Alabama, 1858, p. 121.)

• Huntsville, Alabama - Limestone Quarry today a Campsite in Three Caves Quarry (Limestone) (photographs and history) This web site is presented by The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama. (The quotation below is used with the permission of the Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama. If anyone has a photograph of this limestone mine, please contact me. Peggy Perazzo)
  • Historic of Three Caves Quarry (Limestone)

    “Three Caves is not a cave at all, but a former limestone mine.  The mine began operating on a small basis in the spring of 1945.  The site of Three Caves was owned by Madison County and leased to Madison Limestone Company for five cents per ton of limestone hauled away.  

    “After the war ended, the demand for limestone for construction increased for a fast-growing Huntsville.  At its height, the quarry spawned tons of limestone that paved the majority of Huntsville's original main streets and parking lots.  The Three Caves Quarry closed in 1952 due to skyrocketing operation costs and the growth of Huntsville.  Open pit mining was more efficient, and a mining operation in the middle of town was unsafe for obvious reasons....”

  • Three Caves Quarry (Limestone) (Photographs), presented on the roamschool.com web site.

• Huntsville (southwest of Huntsville), Alabama – Madison Quarry, Alabama  (includes a photo of the quarry)

  • Huntsville (near), Alabama – Scuba Diving at Madison Quarry in Alabama  (You Tube video)

• Jackson County, Alabama – Sandstone Quarry – Photos of sandstone quarrying on Skyline Farms, Jackson County, Alabama (mid-1930s)

  “Stone quarry, Skyline Farms, Alabama”  (Ben Shahn, Photographer, 1937)

  “Stone quarry, Skyline Farms, Alabama”  (Ben Shahn, Photographer, 1937), Library of Congress

  “Resettled farmers working in sandstone quarry.  Jackson County, Alabama. Skyline Farms,” Sept. 1935.  (Arthur Rothstein, Photographer, Sept. 1935)

  “Resettled farmers working in sandstone quarry.  Jackson County, Alabama. Skyline Farms,” Sept. 1935.  (Arthur Rothstein, Photographer, Sept. 1935), Library of Congress

  (Repository of the above photographs:  Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, DC 20540 ) 

  • The Skyline Farms Project (The following excerpts are from the “Skyline Farms” section in the Encyclopedia of Alabama web site. Visit this web site for the detailed story of the Skyline Farms Project.)  

    “The Skyline Farms project, established by the federal government in Jackson County in 1934, was one of the more unique socioeconomic experiments in Alabama history.
    
    “Originally called the Cumberland Farms Project, the community was established by the Federal Emergency Relief Agency (renamed the Resettlement Administration in 1935). The name was changed quickly to Skyline Farms…”

    “During the mid-1930s, the federal government purchased approximately 13,000 acres of land in Jackson County in northeastern Alabama….

    “Today, all that remains at the site is the school building, which is now used as a local elementary school, and a few other buildings….”

• Jasper, Walker County, Alabama - Sandstone Quarries, from WalkerWeb, LLC. In 1891 a newspaper article stated that there were two sandstone quarries in the vicinity. (This link is no longer available)
  <http://server2.walkerweb.net/community/towns.htm>
• Kymulga, Talladega County, Alabama - Onyx-Marble Deposits in Cave (from Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, Bulletin 18,” by William F. Prouty, Geological Survey of Alabama , 1916)

  Plate XXIII. Entrance chamber in onyx-marble cave near Kymulga, Talladega County. The rock in which the cavern is formed is a dolomite. The onyx-marble deposits are calcite. (This description is from pp. 168-169 of Bulletin 18.)

• Lee County, Alabama - the Historic Chewacla Marble Quarry. This quarry was mentioned in “The Mineral Industry of Alabama,” 1998. (Reference cited: Stevenson, Gene, 1997, New Opelika limestone company operating in quarry dating back to 1850s: The Opelika-Auburn News, March 7, v. 93, p. A-1.) [PDF]

  “Mineral exploration in Alabama continued to focus on industrial resources with several large expansions and new operations in recent years...Opelika Materials LLC recently began crushed stone operations at the historic Chewacla marble quarry in Lee County (Stevenson, 1997)....”

• Madison, Alabama - “Limestone Quarry today the Madison Aquatic Dive Park,” photographs and description in an article entitled, “Alabama’s Madison Aquatic Park: Poised to Blast Off,” by Linda Lee Walden, Dive Training Magazine, online edition. (The link to this article is no longer available on the web site at the following web address.)
  <http://www.dtmag.com/dive-usa/MadisonAquaticParkAL.html>
• Marion (near), Alabama – Quarry Holes Along Side of Road (postcard photograph)

  Quarry Holes Along Side of Road (colorized postcard photograph; published by J.C. Mickleboro, Marion, Alabama; early 1900s; unmailed)

• McCalla Station, Jefferson County, Alabama - Variegated Marble Deposit (from Preliminary Report on The Crystalline and Other Marbles of Alabama, Bulletin 18,” by William F. Prouty, Geological Survey of Alabama, 1916, pp. 92)

   “Minor Marble Deposits - Variegated Marbles.

  “Besides the variegated marble from near Calera, which is described elsewhere in this bulletin* and which is of Cambrian age, there are a number of localities, especially in Jefferson and St. Clair counties, where rocks of Pelham age yield variegated marbles. In nearly every case these deposits are near the base of the Pelham formation and usually are near a fault or represent a brecciated deposit.

  (* See entry: Calera (south of east of), Shelby County, Alabama - Variegated Marbles Near Calera above.)

  “Near McCalla Station, Jefferson County

  “One of the best known of these deposits* occurs about a mile west of McCalla station in the SE. ¼ of NW. ¼ of S. 35, T. 19, R. 5-W. Another locality is just east of Bessemer in NW. ¼ of S. 11, T. 19, R. 4-W. In both these localities the marble is highly ferruginous and locally tinged greenish.”

  (* Page 92, footnote 1: McCalley, The Valley Regions of Alabama, Pt. II, p. 337.)

• Montevallo, Alabama - Maylene Aggregate Quarry (present-day company), 144 Butler Road, Montevallo, Alabama 35115; (facility) (205) 663-3951; (sales) (205) 969-2629.
• Montgomery, Talladega County, Alabama – Talladega Marble Quarries (Marble), from A brief history of Sylacauga Marble, by Ruth Beaumont Cook, B. B. Comer Memorial Public Library Foundation, 2009, pp. 3-4.

  The above book states that the proprietors of the Talladega Marble Quarries were George Herd and George Miller. The time period mentioned is during the late 1830s through the mid-1840s. George Herd signed his cemetery stones “G. Herd, Herd, or Herd Bro’s. (Two of his brothers worked in the quarry business with George Herd.)

  • Herd Family Records located in the B. B. Comer Library Collection.

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