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Home > Connecticut > List of Quarries in Connecticut & Quarry Links, Photographs and Articles
| This map was extracted from Bulletin 6 of the Connecticut Geological and Natural History Survey, 1906. Plate XXVIII (From The Commercial Granites of New England, Bulletin 738, 1923. Map size is 640KB) |  |
(The following list of Connecticut quarries is not a complete list of all of the historical quarries in the state, only the ones I have been able to locate. Also, please see the section above entitled, "List of Connecticut Quarries from Printed Sources." If you know of more historical quarries in Connecticut, please contact me. Peggy B. Perazzo)
| Coarse porphyritic biotite granite gneiss from Hoadly Point "West" Quarry, Branford, from The Granites of Connecticut, Bulletin 484, by T. Nelson Dale and Herbert E. Gregory, Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1911. |  |
The caption reads: "Showing the lenticular shape of the feldspars and the distribution of the mica and quartz in bands. The large lenses are mostly microline feldspar."
The Yale & Towne Manufacturing Company.
Yale Stylo-Chiselry.
Memorial Tablets, Panels, Records, Grilles, Borders.
Decorative and Art Metal Work of Every Description.
A revival of the ancient art of incising metals, retaining all its beauty, possibilities and individuality, but accomplished by methods which have been developed during years of patient investigation and expensive experiment, whereby work of this kind can now be produced at a small fraction of the cost involved by any methods heretofore known.
General Offices: 280 Broadway, New York City.
Works: Stamford, Conn. – Branford, Conn.
Salesrooms:
New York, 84-86 Chambers St.
Philadelphia, 1120 Market-St.
Buffalo, Builders’ Exchange
Chicago, 151-154 Wabash-Ave.
Boston, 224 Franklin-St.,
San Francisco, Mills Building.
Brennan Stone Co.
Granite, Limestone, Bluestone, Brownstone, Ohio Sandstones and Marble
Main Office and Mill - 208 Housatonic Ave., Bridgeport, Conn., Tel. Barnum 3148
Hartford Plant, Edwards St., Hartford, Conn., Tel. 2-5390
“The past mining glories of Connecticut are now (circa 1967) limited to the valuable nonmetallic commodities so essential to modern industry. During the colonial period, however, and extending into the nineteenth century Connecticut was also notable for the diversity of metallic ores produced. At various times iron, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, and copper have been mined. Because of these deposits, the State early became an important center for smelting and processing a wide variety of primary and secondary nonferrous metals. The State is famous as a brass center, using copper and zinc from other areas, and in addition magnesium and calcium metals are produced from local raw materials at Canaan. In fact the Canaan plant is the only domestic commercial source of calcium metal.”
“U. S. 7, U. S. 44. - Many of the producing mineral localities are visible from the highways of the State. Just east of Canaan from U. S. 44 the quarry and plant of the magnesium-calcium operation can be seen. Other limestone processing operations can be seen near Lime Rock south of Canaan on U. S. 7. Near the large population centers of the Connecticut Valley many trap-rock quarries are visible from various highways. At several other locations in the valley, brick plants using local clay or shale can be observed.”
“The past mining glories of Connecticut are now (circa 1967) limited to the valuable nonmetallic commodities so essential to modern industry. During the colonial period, however, and extending into the nineteenth century Connecticut was also notable for the diversity of metallic ores produced. At various times iron, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, and copper have been mined. Because of these deposits, the State early became an important center for smelting and processing a wide variety of primary and secondary nonferrous metals. The State is famous as a brass center, using copper and zinc from other areas, and in addition magnesium and calcium metals are produced from local raw materials at Canaan. In fact the Canaan plant is the only domestic commercial source of calcium metal.”
“U. S. 7, U. S. 44 - …Near the large population centers of the Connecticut Valley many trap-rock quarries are visible from various highways….”
The Connecticut Freestone Quarry Co.
…Brownstone - Cromwell, Middlesex Co., Conn.
The Middlesex Steam Brownston Co.
Cromwell, Middlsex Co., Connecticut.
Contractors in all kinds of building stone. Estimates cheerfully given for all kinds of plain and ornamental work. Connecticut Brownstone sawed to dimensions a specialty.
Geo. J. Grossman, Pres. and Genl. Mngr.
The New England Brownstone Co.
Connecticut Brown Freestone.
Quarry and Office, Cromwell, Middlesex County, Conn. - W. F. Ranney, Supt. and Genl. Mngr.
The New England Brown Stone Co.
Cromwell, Middlesex County, Connecticut
W. F. Ranney, Supt. and Genl. Mngr.
Connecticut Brown Stone.
Stone of all sizes in the rough, and sawed slabs always in stock. Orders for stone sawed to dimensions promptly attended to.
| Porphyritic granite gneiss from Derby, from The Granites of Connecticut, Bulletin 484, by T. Nelson Dale and Herbert E. Gregory, Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1911. |  |
The caption reads: "The phenocrysts are feldspar."
“A few items from this corner of the granite world might interest some of the numerous readers of Monumental News.
“Most of the quarries along the Connecticut coast are doing a good business. The Millstone are working on Philadelphia orders most of the time with from sixty to eighty cutters employed and are doing some fine work….”
“Booth Brothers at Great Neck are quarrying some very fine stone and doing some excellent work for the trade….”
With the coming of the railroad in 1848, the area started to attract immigrants to live in the various parts of Greenwich. Among the different nationalities to settle in Greenwich, some of the Italians – the stonemasons and their families – were drawn to the neighborhood called Chickahominy so that they would be near the Byram quarries.
This Quarry Farm article was written by Sara Abbasi at the Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut . She wrote that the owner of the land on which the quarry was located was Peter Voorhis. Another quarry was located next to Mr. Voorhis’ property was called the Ritch Quarry. Ms. Abbasi noted that stone from quarries in this area was used in the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge and the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty. She also noted the stone was used in many New York City buildings. The peak of the production of the quarries was between 1852 and 1910.
Carved monument of greenish-gray fine-grained quartz monzonite from the Salter Quarry at Groton from The Granites of Connecticut, Bulletin 484, by T. Nelson Dale and Herbert E. Gregory, Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1911.
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The caption reads: "Maximum relief of carving, 2 ¾ inches; height of cross, 12 feet."
Centre Groton Granite
Finely Adapted for Monumental and Cemetery Work. Manufacturers supplied with Rough Stock.
Robert Eckerlein, Center Groton, Conn.| Photograph of Sachem Head Breakwater Granite Quarry, from The Granites of Connecticut, Bulletin 484, by T. Nelson Dale and Herbert E. Gregory, Department of the Interior, United States Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., 1911. |  |
The caption reads: "Looking northeast, showing the working face of biotite granite gneiss with horizontal sheets, the long drill holes made in blasting off large masses, and the tracks converging to the dock."
The City Quarry
Complaint is made that the blasting in the city quarry at Hartford, Connecticut, is seriously injuring the buildings of Trinity College, which are from 400 to 500 feet distant. The city officials say that quarrying has been going on in this spot for a hundred years, and that during the twenty-five years that the college has been located there, complaints of damage have not been made until the present season.
“The New England Granite Co., Hartford, Conn., have the contract for the monument to be erected by the Eighteenth Connecticut regiment in the National cemetery at Winchester, Va. The monument will be made of Concord granite and will consist of a base, die and a shaft, the latter rock faced with hammered margin lines. Total height 13’ 1”.”
The New England Granite Works, which has had an office on Main street, in Hartford, for forty years past, has removed to Asylum street, in the Batterson Building. J. G. Batterson, son of the late J. G. Batterson, is now president of the company.
The monumental business carried on for some years past at Hartford, Conn., by Stephen Maslen, has been incorporated under the name of the Stephen Maslen Corporation of Hartford. The capital stock is $25,000 and the incorporators are Stephen Maslen, who holds most of the stock; Charles C. Maslen, and H. L. Maslen.
“The past mining glories of Connecticut are now (circa 1967) limited to the valuable nonmetallic commodities so essential to modern industry. During the colonial period, however, and extending into the nineteenth century Connecticut was also notable for the diversity of metallic ores produced. At various times iron, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, and copper have been mined. Because of these deposits, the State early became an important center for smelting and processing a wide variety of primary and secondary nonferrous metals. The State is famous as a brass center, using copper and zinc from other areas, and in addition magnesium and calcium metals are produced from local raw materials at Canaan. In fact the Canaan plant is the only domestic commercial source of calcium metal.”
“U. S. 7, U. S. 44. - Many of the producing mineral localities are visible from the highways of the State. Just east of Canaan from U. S. 44 the quarry and plant of the magnesium-calcium operation can be seen. Other limestone processing operations can be seen near Lime Rock south of Canaan on U. S. 7. Near the large population centers of the Connecticut Valley many trap-rock quarries are visible from various highways. At several other locations in the valley, brick plants using local clay or shale can be observed.”
Connecticut - Serpentine. - “…The serpentine deposits of Connecticut are thus described by Professor Shepard.* ‘Connecticut prospers, however, in the green marbles of Milford, a material for decoration much more beautiful and highly prized than white marble. These were first detected in 1811. Two quarries were soon after opened, one near the village of Milford, and called the Milford Quarry; the other 2 ½ miles west of New Haven, and called the New Haven quarry. They were wrought with considerable activity for several years, and furnished an abundance of very rich marble; but as the working of them was attended with heavy expense from the difficulty of obtaining blocks of large dimensions that were perfectly sound, and from the labor required in sawing and polishing, they were in a few years abandoned, and have for a long time been in a neglected condition. The experiment proved an unfortunate one, therefore, not from any deficiency of marble or its lack of beauty - for these were both fully admitted - but from a want of wealth and taste in the country to sustain the price.
(* Page 363 footnote: Report on the Geological Survey of Connecticut, by C. U. Shepard, 1837, pp. 101-103.)
“The quarry at Milford is capable of furnishing abundant supplies of this highly valued marble (i.e., the verde antique variety), although, from the circumstances that it occupies narrow and irregular seams among the veined marble blocks or slabs of any size, it must always be dear compared with pieces sawn as formerly, without any regard to its separation from the more common kind. * * * Whenever the attempt to work it is made, it is to be hoped that the experience of the past will prevent its use for monuments exposed to the weather, for besides the incongruity of its colors compared with the marbles usually employed for this purpose, it soon loses its luster and emits color from the action of the weather on the grains of magnetic iron ore it contains.”
Henry Gardiner, Sole Proprietor of the
Millstone Granite Quarries.
Successors to the Millstone Granite Co. Firm of Booth Bros., Etc., at Millstone.
The Only Genuine Millstone, Conn., Granite.
All kinds of finished Monumental work. Rough Stock a specialty. The certificate of award at the Centennial Exhibition of 1876 on the Millstone Blue Granite, for the good color of the stone, its fine close grain, and good polish, and the marked contrast between the polished and dressed surfaces; a character which gives unusual distinctness in ornamentation, makes it especially adapted to fine cemetery work.
P. O. Address, - Millstone, Conn.
Telegraph and Telephone, New London, Conn.
Connecticut - Serpentine. - “…The serpentine deposits of Connecticut are thus described by Professor Shepard.* ‘Connecticut prospers, however, in the green marbles of Milford, a material for decoration much more beautiful and highly prized than white marble. These were first detected in 1811. Two quarries were soon after opened, one near the village of Milford, and called the Milford Quarry; the other 2 ½ miles west of New Haven, and called the New Haven quarry. They were wrought with considerable activity for several years, and furnished an abundance of very rich marble; but as the working of them was attended with heavy expense from the difficulty of obtaining blocks of large dimensions that were perfectly sound, and from the labor required in sawing and polishing, they were in a few years abandoned, and have for a long time been in a neglected condition. The experiment proved an unfortunate one, therefore, not from any deficiency of marble or its lack of beauty - for these were both fully admitted - but from a want of wealth and taste in the country to sustain the price….”
(* Page 363 footnote: Report on the Geological Survey of Connecticut, by C. U. Shepard, 1837, pp. 101-103.)
“The New Haven marble, though destitute of accidental and in some measure classical value which pertains to the Milford variety, is nevertheless a beautiful thing for decoration. In vivacity of colors and the delicacy of their arrangement it is hardly capable of being surpassed. It may be described as a bluish gray or dove-colored limestone clouded with greenish yellow serpentine, the latter containing black grains and sheet veins of magnetic iron ore. The disposition of the colors is cloud-like, flamed, and veined. It polishes with difficulty consequence of the magnetic iron it contains, which, though it heightens its beauty, unfits it for exposure to the weather.’ So far as the present writer is aware these quarries have not been worked since the time mentioned by Professor Shepherd; i.e., since a few years subsequent to 1811.”
Booth Bros. & Hurricane Isle Granite Company
New London, Conn.
Quarries at Waterford, Conn.
Connecticut White Granite
Equal to the Best Westerly Granite.
If you want a granite that possesses all the desirable qualities for First-class Monumental Purposes Connecticut White Granite will supply that want.
Chas. F. Stoll
Sole Producer of the Celebrated Groton Granite
For the trade in Rough, adapted for fine Monumental and Statuary Work.
P. O. Address, New London, Conn.
“A few items from this corner of the granite world might interest some of the numerous readers of Monumental News.
“Most of the quarries along the Connecticut coast are doing a good business. The Millstone are working on Philadelphia orders most of the time with from sixty to eighty cutters employed and are doing some fine work….”
“Booth Brothers at Great Neck are quarrying some very fine stone and doing some excellent work for the trade. Casey & Sherwood, Salter & Son and Ohaver are all doing a fair business. The contractor for the post office has not yet put in his appearance, and our local contractors are wondering at his long silence….”
"The upper limestone valley along the East Aspetuck River contained a belt of marble ideal for building stone and in 1800 quarrying and sawing of this stone into slabs for export began in Marbledale, the part of New Milford ceded to the new Town of Washington a few years earlier. By 1830, there were 15 marble quarries and 20 mills producing and shipping marble all over the country, located along a three-mile stretch of the East Aspetuck at the New Milford-Washington line.By the 1920's, virtually all of the nineteenth century industries and small shops had passed out of existence, except for lime manufacture at the kiln near Boardman Bridge."
Commercial use of material within this site is strictly prohibited. It is not to be captured, reworked, and placed inside another web site. © . All rights reserved. Peggy B. and George (Pat) Perazzo.