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Hallowell Quarry Yields Granite Once Again

June 15, 2010 - HALLOWELL -- Lenny Nason only has a little way to go before he can see the bottom of his quarry.

The 77-year-old retired banker and former Hallowell councilman started pumping the granite quarry dry on March 14.

He has reopened the quarry, which shut down 80 years ago, and is selling Hallowell granite.

"I have a couple of companies already in here taking the rocks out," Nason said Monday. "See the metal pans down there? That's how they took the rocks out. They filled the pans up and craned them out. We're doing it the same old way."

Nason lives next to the Winthrop Street quarry with his wife, Valarie. He purchased the 7 1/2-acre property in 1978.

For 185 years, Hallowell granite taken from the two quarries Nason owns established a reputation as some of the finest-grained, lightest-colored granite.

The stone produced from the quarry off Winthrop Street was used in the Manhattan Bridge Archway; the Maine State House; the Pilgrim Monument in Plymouth, Mass., the Pullman Monument in Chicago; and the New York State Capitol plaza in Albany.

Nason named his operation Granite Works LLC. He employs two part-time workers; his wife keeps the books.

"I help him all I can," Valerie Nason said.

After it ceased operation, underground springs and rain water filled the quarry, which once belonged to Joseph Bodwell.

Bodwell already had established a granite business in Vinalhaven and moved to Hallowell in 1866. Along with Charles and William Wilson, Bodwell purchased the quarries and established the Hallowell Granite Co., later known as the Hallowell Granite Works.

Bodwell was mayor of Hallowell, a representative to the Legislature and, later, governor of Maine.

Nason said the Stinchfield Quarry, the larger of his two quarries, is being drained. The smaller quarry behind Stinchfield, called the Longfellow Quarry, is where the water is being pumped.

His customers include companies that provide granite to construction projects, landscapers, stone carvers and individual workings on home projects.

On Monday, rusted rail tracks once used to haul out the stone and derrick cranes became visible as the water slowly receded. Nason pointed to single pieces of granite lying on the dry bottom of the quarry where the water had been drained off.

"See that stone over there, all those different pieces?" Nason said. "That's what we're selling. I call it grout rock. We're dealing with a lot of companies in Wisconsin, New York and New Hampshire. They're using it for landscaping, walkways, steps and benches. I had a guy come here from New Jersey building a barn house, and he wanted granite block for the foundation."

He said he is filling a big order for the state Capitol in Albany, N.Y., which is being restored. The exterior of the Capitol, completed in 1899 at a cost of $25 million, is made of white granite from Hallowell.

"When I was in city government and heard $25 million worth of granite went to New York and $70 million came out of that quarry when Joseph Bodwell owned it," he said, "that's why I bought the property."

Four formerly submerged cranes are now visible. On the other side of the quarry sits a rusted "donkey" engine, which he said powered cables that operated the cranes.

He's not sure about the depth of the quarry; it might be 75 feet.

As the water has receded, Nason said, he has found all kinds of mining tools: a wooden cart that moved up and down the rusted tracks, cables, 5-foot-by-7-foot metal pans that were filled with stone then placed on the cart, and a steam boiler.

"I've found all kinds of tools," he said. "It looks as if they left in a hurry. Their work was done, and they just walked off the job."

He couldn't calculate how many tons were left in the quarry. He also owns land around the quarry and across the street where workers piled excess granite. Those granite pieces are still good, he said.

He said money isn't behind his decision to start up the operation. It's the joy of dealing with his customers.

"All I want to do is make a comfortable living," he said. "I like people, and there's good people buying granite. I have a lot of interesting people come here to see me. There's lots of money here, lots of money; but I don't care about the money. I really don't care."

Nason said customers find him through word of mouth and his company's Web site, www.hallowellgraniteworks.com.

"Everybody loves Hallowell granite," he said. "It was known at one time as the best in the country. I've got a lot of orders to deliver today. It's unreal."

by Mechele Cooper, Morning Sentinel, June 15, 2010

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Regions: Belgrade


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