September 14, 2012 South Eastern Vermont

We drove to Patty’s house in very rural south eastern Vermont. We stopped at the Rock of Ages Granite Quarry  in Graniteville, VT  on the way and took the tour. The company’s manufacturing division operates one of the  largest granite plants in the world. The granite from the quarry is known for its almost flawless texture.  they have many quarries. This quarry is a 550 foot deep , 50 acre hole. We took a bus tour up to the quarry and then we had a self guiding tour through the manufacturing plant where they make the monuments. The observation deck overlooks cutting, polishing and rubber stone cutting operations.

 

The Rock of Ages quarry.  the blocks they are cutting out are 10 feet by 50 feet.John with the Amish folks in our tour group.

They used to drill out the blocks with lots of drill holes side by side. Now they use a gigantic diamond ring saw. They just drill one hole down and one hole across and then thread the blade through, feed water through the hole  and  attach the blade  to a big wheel , spin it and cut. I use a diamond band ring saw to cut some of my glass. much smaller of course.

A piece of the diamond blade. It is worn out, but the silver parts had fine diamonds attached. Above is a granite bowling alley. They decided to make one to see if they could sell outdoor bowling alleys to resorts. The alley ended up being two slick so the balls just went into the alleys.

Their flawless granite. They only make monuments. Here is an angel and a Jesus figure, and here are some of the designs they make  for gravestones, memorials  etc. They make the designs and writing by sand carving with a sand blaster, just like what I use on the glass.  They cut the stencils by hand with an exacto kniefe and then sand blast them. I am trying to learn sand carving glass when I am in my studio.

The bus parked in front of the Rock of Ages,  the manufacturing plant floor.

We are parked at a friend of Patty’s empty house right next to the river. Green fields, trees starting to turn. We tried to get up Patty’s driveway, John drove the bus all the way up the steep hill, then could not get the bus to make the turn so we could park it, so he had to back it all the way down the narrow, steep driveway, with me directing him. Our camping spot. A photo of John from Patty’s photo album from 1982 when they were friends in Fort Collins.