Rock of Ages, Hope Cementary, Golf
8 – 8 – 06
Today we overslept a little bit and did not get going until past 9.
Kevin, Carol, Maria, Little Kelly and I got to tour the Rock of Ages granite factory. The tour included location of the quarry and the plant where they cut the stones and the plant where they make the monuments.
As we all know, Vermont is the Granite capital of the world. And Rock of Ages is the biggest company in this industry. They produce granite tombstones, giant granite rollers for Hersheys to grind the cocoa beans.
The quarry that we saw is at least 200 ft deep. We saw the workers drill the granite and hoist a slab of 23 tons from the bottom to the top. The said that this area of granite is 5 miles long, 4 miles wide and 10 miles deep. At the rate they are producing, it would take 4500 yrs to exhaust this supply of granite rock. They also import colored granite from Ukraine, S. Africa. and the Carolinas and Pennsylvania. They usally harvest 6 of those 23tons slabs a day. They only harvest 10 mos. out of the year as the other two are just to cold to work in. the workers on avg. make about $30 per hr.
We saw some of their results at the Hope Cemetery. A granite race car, a soccer ball and other ornate sculptures adorn some of the grave sites. There are just hundreds of these big granite tombstones. One moseleum, entirely made of granite is believed to have cost the owner $900,000! So, there is big business in rocks. This was a really neat tour of a cemetery.
In the afternoon, Kevin and I along with Kevin’s friend Rick and Mark golfed at the Barre Country Club. A great golf course with panoramic view of the Vermont Mountains including Camels Hump or Camels Back, which is a landmark that everyone from here recognizes.
After golf and grilled steak dinner, I’m very tired and ready for a great night sleep. Overall a great vacation day.
Tags: E Vermont 2006
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