A sepia-toned vintage photograph showing an active granite quarry filled with large blocks of cut stone. A small industrial locomotive on tracks sits in the center, surrounded by cranes, scaffolding, and working laborers.

Granite Quarries

Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City, the John F. Kennedy Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery, the Statue of Liberty, the approaches to the Brooklyn Bridge, President Ulysses S. Grant’s tomb, and Sing Sing Prison all have one thing in common: granite from Maine.

Formed millions of years ago by cooling magma, granite is found all over the state, but is particularly exposed on the coast, where glaciers scraped away the surface in the last ice age. That so much exposed granite is along Maine’s coast turned out to be fortuitous for commercial purposes as the heavy stones could easily be conveyed by water to major transportation hubs, from where Maine’s granite then made its way to construction projects all along the East Coast.

Because of the access to shipping, much of the state’s granite quarrying business was centered along the coast. For a time between the mid-1800s and the early twentieth century, granite turned communities like Stonington, Vinalhaven, and Hallowell into boom towns. At the industry’s peak in 1901, more than 150 granite quarries were in operation in Maine.

Crucial to the industry were immigrants, some of whom were skilled stoneworkers who worked quarrying marble in Italy. The work they did in Maine’s granite quarries was strenuous and dangerous. The possibility of injury or death from getting crushed, dynamite blasts, cave-ins, and debilitating lung diseases from inhaling stone dust was a daily reality. Those working conditions, as well as low pay, resulted in the state’s granite workers forming the first granite industry union in the United States in 1877.

Demand for granite as a building material dropped in the first decades of the twentieth century as steel and concrete replaced stone, but Maine granite is still quarried today. While the state’s granite mainly is used for curbing, kitchen countertops, and landscaping, it is still occasionally incorporated into major projects, such as the recently completed restoration of the terreplein deck that forms the pedestal base of the Statue of Liberty.

Author: Stephanie Bouchard

Maine Granite Industry Historical Society and Museum

A faded, sepia-toned group photograph showing a line of stone carvers posing with large, intricately sculpted ornamental stone structures outside a long wooden shingled building. — Chase Granite Quarry, East Blue Hill, ca. 1895. Photo: Collections of Blue Hill Historical Society

A vintage color-tinted postcard capturing the bustling interior of the Benvenue Granite Company cutting sheds in Stonington, Maine, packed with numerous workers shaping stone blocks beneath a high metal roof framework. — Cutting sheds, Benvenue Granite Co., Stonington, ca. 1912. Photo: Maine Historical Society.

A high-angle historical photograph showing an expansive landscape view from a quarry, featuring a very tall, tapered wooden tower standing alongside open-air workspaces and small sheds where laborers are gathered. — Tower and workers at Mount Waldo Quarry, ca. 1880. Stone from this quarry was used to build Fort Knox, several miles downriver. Photo: ME Dept. of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry - ME Forest Service.

A dramatic black and white photograph highlighting a massive, elongated column of rough-hewn granite resting horizontally on heavy logs, while spectators stand along the high rock tiers behind it. — This black and white photo print shows an enormous granite half column lying on rollers waiting to be loaded aboard a stone sloop or schooner at Vinalhaven, Maine. Onlookers and quarrymen stand admiring it. Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum.

An archival photograph depicting stone masons working alongside railroad tracks to carve intricate floral designs, scrolling details, and large ornamental faces into massive structural granite blocks. — Granite carving at Vinalhaven, Maine. View of extensive carving yard, with many large structural pieces nearing completion. Workers are using both hand and air powered tools. Large rail mounted steam derrick in background. Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum.

A historical photograph depicting a group of nine quarry workers posing together amidst shattered stone fragments. The men are wearing traditional early 20th-century work shirts, trousers, suspenders, and varying styles of hats, with several holding pipes — Granite quarry workers at Hallowell, Maine. This quarry was "in the town of Hallowell, 2 miles north-northwest of the city of Hallowell." It was owned by the Hallowell Granite Works. Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum.

A color photograph showcasing a pile of large, roughly rectangular blocks of light-colored granite in the foreground, with a water-filled abandoned quarry pit and a pine-covered rocky hill visible in the background. — Sun shines off the faces of blocks of granite at the quarry on Vinalhaven Island, 1992. Photo: Penobscot Marine Museum.

« Back to All Atlas Entries