The Quincy Quarries, in Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

, were the site of the first railroad in the United States and produced granite

Granite

Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...

 for over a century. The quarries

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 are now open to the public as a recreation area.

History

In 1825, after an exhaustive search throughout New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

, Solomon Willard

Solomon Willard

Solomon Willard , was a carver and builder in Massachusetts who is remembered primarily for designing and overseeing the Bunker Hill Monument, the first monumental obelisk erected in the United States.-Background:...

 selected the Quincy site as the source of stone for the Bunker Hill Monument

Bunker Hill Monument

-External links:****: cultural context**...

 in Charlestown

Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown is a neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and is located on a peninsula north of downtown Boston. Charlestown was originally a separate town and the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony; it became a city in 1847 and was annexed by Boston on January 5, 1874...

. After many delays and much obstruction, a charter was granted on March 4, 1826 for the construction of a railroad to help move the granite. The "Granite Railway

Granite Railway

-References:** privately printed for The Granite Railway Company, 1926.* Scholes, Robert E. , .******Dutton, E.P. Published 1867. A good map of roads and rail lines around Quincy and Milton including the Granite Railroad.* * *...

" was designed and built by railway pioneer Gridley Bryant

Gridley Bryant

Gridley Bryant was an American construction engineer who ended up building the first commercial railroad in the United States and inventing most of the basic technologies involved in it...

 and began operations on October 7, 1826.

The granite from these quarries became famous throughout the nation, and stone cutting quickly became Quincy's principal economic activity.

Later use

The last active quarry closed in 1963. After their abandonment, the open quarries filled with rainwater and ground water. The flooded quarries soon became a popular spot for cliff jumping

Diving

Diving is the sport of jumping or falling into water from a platform or springboard, sometimes while performing acrobatics. Diving is an internationally-recognized sport that is part of the Olympic Games. In addition, unstructured and non-competitive diving is a recreational pastime.Diving is one...

. However, many people were injured—and killed—while diving into the quarries from great heights. This led the police and the city of Quincy to grapple with what to do with this abandoned space.

During this period, the quarries were also discovered by rock climbers. In 1968, A Guide to Quincy Quarries by Willie Crowther and Tony Thompson was published by the MIT Outing Club, containing information about climbing in and around the quarries, with a second edition published in 1970. Boston Rocks, a later guidebook by Richard Douchette and Susan Ruff, is now in its second edition.

During the 1980s old telephone poles and trees were added to discourage cliff jumping. Unfortunately, these were quickly waterlogged and sank two feet underwater where they were not visible to the cliff jumpers above. The injury and fatality rate skyrocketed. Often, divers sent to look for missing cliff jumpers would unexpectedly find other bodies instead.

Quincy Quarries Reservation

In 1985, Boston's Metropolitan District Commission purchased 22 acre

Acre

The acre is a unit of area in a number of different systems, including the imperial and U.S. customary systems. The most commonly used acres today are the international acre and, in the United States, the survey acre. The most common use of the acre is to measure tracts of land.The acre is related...

s, including Granite Railway Quarry, as the Quincy Quarries Reservation. A solution to the public safety problem was finally found with the massive Big Dig highway project in Boston. Dirt from the new highway tunnels was trucked in to fill the main quarries. This opened up new sections of rock to climbers, and the site was subsequently improved to encourage public use of the reservation. The reservation is connected to the trail system of the Blue Hills Reservation

Blue Hills Reservation

Blue Hills Reservation is a state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. Managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, it extends into Milton, Quincy, Braintree, Canton, Randolph, and Dedham south of Boston.-Description:...

 and features hiking, rock climbing and views of the Boston skyline. Recently, scenes from the movies Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone

Gone Baby Gone is a 2007 American crime drama-mystery film directed by Ben Affleck and starring his brother Casey Affleck. The screenplay by Ben Affleck and Aaron Stockard is based on the novel of the same name by Dennis Lehane, author of Mystic River and Shutter Island...

 (2007

2007 in film

This is a list of major films released in 2007.-Top grossing films:Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top grossing films that were first released in the USA in 2007...

) and The Invention of Lying

The Invention of Lying

The Invention of Lying is a 2009 fantasy romantic comedy film that is written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Matthew Robinson. This film is the directorial debut of Gervais. The film stars Ricky Gervais as the first human with the ability to lie...

 (2009

2009 in film

The year 2009 saw the release of many films. Seven made the top 50 list of highest-grossing films, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced that as of this year, their Best Picture category would consist of ten nominees, rather than five .- Highest-grossing films :Please note...

) were filmed in the Quincy Quarries.

External links

• http://www.quincyquarrymuseum.org/