Vermont Granite

Chris and I continued our local sightseeing with a short drive over to Montpelier (Vermont's Capital) where Christopher (Chris's son) and his family live. We visited, then drove to Barre for a hike up Millstone Hill, then back to Christopher's for a nice dinner and a walk uptown for ice cream. Nice day!

The hike up the Millstone Hill trail took us to the Marr & Gordon Quarry - one of nearly 100 granite quarries in Barre in the 1890's (only 1 remains in operation today) these quarries were the source for most of the granite used in Washington DC's early buildings and monuments. Today the quarries provide some prime hiking and recreational opportunities.

Chris, Jacob & Christopher

Local stone carvers are being commissioned to create artwork on some of the granite waste

Many of the quarries have flooded and are now small lakes

So, why not go swimming!

 

While still in Barre, we visited the Hope Cemetery where we viewed some very unique gravestones, many carved/created by the very skilled granite workers who worked in the quarries - they would never be able to afford a marker, so they created the them during their life so the family would have an appropriate marker when they died.

My favorite

 

And lastly, Vermonters want you to know that Montpelier is the smallest city designated a state capital in the U.S. and that their capital building has only dome topped by a female (Ceres, the goddess of agriculture) in the country.