Restoration Almost Complete

The exterior granite of Quincy's Old City Hall (1844) has been cleaned and fitted with energy efficient windows and doors.  Workers inside are adding the finishing touches to this project that was started in 2013 and will open to the general public soon.

Numbers In Stone

This stone engraver is adding a date to the Barry family monument at Mount Wollaston Cemetery.  Engraving numbers and letters in stone is an exacting process with little room for error.

Granite Planet

Happy Monochrome Monday!  This granite sphere is located in Mount Wollaston Cemetery.

Relief

This relief sculpture was spotted and captured on a gravestone at Mount Wollaston Cemetery.  It must have been a lot of work to remove the layer of Quincy Granite and sculpt the family name, READ.   The surname also reminded me of Boston's Book Festival this weekend.  Enjoy!

Travel Tuesday: Barre, Vermont

Hope Cemetery in Barre, Vermont has some amazing monuments like this soccer ball dedicated to the memory of a young 13-year old soccer player who died 29 years ago.

Also engraved on the ball are the words: "There is no room for second place.  There's only one place and that's first place."  I'm sure this is the feeling of all the World Cup competitors.

 I was told by a local that each gravestone has a story behind it and that the stone carver usually had some kind of personal connection with the deceased.  The gravestones are all carved from Barre (light)
gray granite.

Some of the finest memorial designs and granite craftsmanship are on display here.  It's definitely worth a visit or three.

Travel Tuesday: Barre, Vermont

Driving through the center of town you will see the "Youth Triumphant" soldiers' and sailors' memorial which was carved by local stoneworkers using Barre granite.  This sculpture became Barre's trademark and was adopted as their city seal.  

Travel Tuesday: Barre, Vermont

Quincy calls itself "Granite City" but Barre is the self-proclaimed "granite center of the world."  Barre's population is one tenth of Quincy's but also enjoys great diversity. The light grey columns on the library facade are good examples of Barre granite.  I will be sharing more stonework from Barre in weeks to come.

Blues Clues

Today's post is a puzzler:
After donning blue surgical booties, and stepping onto this beautiful curved Quincy granite step you will enter this National Historic Landmark.  This country estate, built in 1770, overlooks Quincy Bay and a tour of it's interior will transport you back to the Revolutionary War Era. The puzzler will be revealed in tomorrow's "old house" post.  Got any answers?

Historic Rehab

Quincy's historic City Hall is in the middle of an $8 million renovation project.  It is expected to be completed by January, 2015.  You can see older springtime posts HERE.

Reviving a "Classic"

Today's Monochrome Monday picture is a close-up of the facade of Quincy Savings Bank Building on Hancock Street.  This 1897, classical revival building features Quincy granite in it's very importatnt-looking doorway.  Notice the Roman-style use of a "v" instead of a "u" in the spelling of Quincy.  The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. 

Greek Revival

Church of the Presidents

Scooping the Ball

The 9.5 ton granite sphere at City Hall Plaza is on the move once again as part of the redesign of the area. 

Thursday is "This Old Building" Day

 Today I am sharing a building facade from "Granite Town" also known at St. George in New Brunswick, Canada.  I thought it appropriate seeing as we call ourselves "Granite City."

St. George's granite industry began in 1862, (later than Quincy's).   "St. George red and black" was quarried and transformed in their local sheds for more than 60 years.  It was used in buildings and cemeteries across North America.   

St. George supplied columns and stone for the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Boston as well as the American Museum of Natural History in New York and Ottawa's Parliament Building, to name a few. 

Travel Tuesday: St. Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada

This is an amazing place.  Remnants of the last glaciation period, about 12,500 years ago, are evident wherever you look.  This boulder (erratic) was once carried by a glacier and dropped here.  Not far from here is the memorial site to Swiss air flight 111 which crashed in the bay on September 2, 1998, and killed all 229 people on board.

Thursday is "This Old House" Day

Today's building is located at 118 Beacon Street in Boston.  I wonder whether Quincy granite was used on its 1907 facade.  The pink magnolia blossoms look so beautiful against the gray stone.

Snowyball

The granite ball in City Hall Plaza takes on an otherworldly look in the recent snowstorm.  Here is how it looked last springtime.

Grass & Granite

These sprigs of dried grass at Lyons Turning Mill may get covered with some white crystals this week. Happy Monochrome Monday!

Walking The Ruins

More than 100 years ago, inside these granite walls, large granite cylinders, 3' x 22', were turned on lathes and polished by jennies.  The Lyon's Turning Mill is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Happy Monochrome Monday!

Abandoned Quarry

This is what remains of the abandoned quarry beside the Lyons Turning Mill.  The building seen at the top of the quarry is part of the Granite Links Golf complex.

Chiseled In History

The Lyon's Turning Mill is the site of an historic granite turning mill that was established in 1893 off a roadway now called Ricciuti Drive.  An "Open House" was held there this past weekend providing an opportunity to see this National Register Historic Site up close complete with demonstrations of some old granite cutting hand tools.