[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4469-S4470]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
RECOGNIZING THE GRANITE INDUSTRY IN BARRE, VERMONT
Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, I have been honored that Vermonters have
sent me here to the U.S. Senate to represent them for many years. In
turn, I always welcome the opportunity to recognize the commitments,
achievements, and successes of Vermonters and the industries found in
the Green Mountain State. Today, I want to highlight the granite center
of the world--not Italy, China, or Brazil--but Barre, a small town of
just over 8,500 year-round residents nestled among the Green Mountains
in central Vermont.
It was 350 million years ago when geologic processes created a unique
granite formation 10 miles deep, 4 miles long, and 2 miles wide in the
heart of present-day Barre. This extraordinary formation is now home to
the world's largest deep-hole granite quarry that produces a form of
granite called ``Barre Gray.'' Known around the world as the finest
quality gray granite on the market, Barre Gray has been an economic
engine and tourist attraction in central Vermont since the first quarry
opened in the 19th century. Barre Gray is renowned by fine architects,
builders, and sculpture artists in every corner of the world and is
just another example of the exports coming from Vermont and extracted
by Vermonters.
The granite industry in Barre has brought jobs and economic
opportunity to thousands of Vermonters over the years, including many
immigrants. Like my grandparents, many people came to Vermont from
Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries in search of a better life.
Through a combination of hard work, skill, luck, and the geologic
processes that created Barre Gray 350 million years ago, many Scottish,
Irish, and Italian immigrants were able to build better lives for
themselves in Vermont working in the granite industry. Unfortunately,
many of the immigrants working in the Barre granite industry also died
in high numbers during the 1918 influenza pandemic. As many of the
Vermonters we tragically lost to COVID-19 are now laid to rest under
Barre Gray granite headstones, so too are many of those who worked the
Barre granite quarry over 100 years ago.
Today, the granite quarry and surrounding manufacturing facilities
employ more than 1,000 Vermonters who create the vast majority of the
granite used in headstones and memorials in the United States. The Rock
of Ages visitor center offers tours of the quarry and their 160,000-
square-foot manufacturing facility, which in addition to the nearby
Vermont Granite Museum, attract more than 100,000 visitors per year.
These institutions also serve as important educational experiences for
classes of local school children who frequently take field trips to see
the geology taught in their textbooks take place in real life.
The granite industry and its history in Barre were profiled in a June
16, 2022, article published in the Washington Post. I ask unanimous
consent that the article titled, ``In Barre, Vt., granite is a way of
life--and beyond,'' be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Washington Post, June 16, 2022]
In Barre, Vt., Granite Is a Way of Life--and Beyond
(By Walter Nicklin)
If one's final earthly travel destination is a graveyard,
then the penultimate stop might well be Barre, Vt., the self-
proclaimed ``granite center of the world.'' Here, in the
scenic foothills of the Green Mountains, are the quarries
that produce many of America's most sought-after tombstones.
Business is booming. The pandemic's ``excess mortality''
has meant increased demand for quality granite to be
quarried, then crafted into memorials. Moreover, as aging
baby boomers realize they won't live forever, they often
embrace their own mortality by purchasing ``pre-need
memorials.''
Even if you don't like the idea of picking your own
tombstone, Barre (pronounced ``Barry'') is worth a visit.
You'll gain an appreciation for what you may have previously
taken for granted, or simply preferred not to contemplate--
namely, gravestones. You'll learn about their fascinating
history, along with the remarkable industry and craft
required in creating them. Most fundamentally, you'll be
exposed to the geological story behind the sturdy stone that
carvers use to immortalize human transience.
Although small (population less than 10,000), Barre is easy
to find, just seven miles from the state capital of
Montpelier. Signage for Exit 6 on Interstate 89 lets you know
this is where the ``Granite Quarries'' are. You then might
drive along Quarry Street or Stone Road on your way to a
place called Graniteville. Along the way, you may pass the
Cornerstone Pub & Kitchen, spot fence posts made out of
granite and catch sight of what otherwise would be
unremarkable commercial signs, such as for lawyers' offices,
engraved in granite.
Granite, granite, everywhere--highlighting the town's
economic raison d'etre and the stone artistry of its
residents. In front of the public library stands a stone
statue of Charles Dickens's Mr. Pickwick. Another statue--of
the poet Robert Bums, next to the Vermont History Center--was
erected by the 19th-century Scottish masons who brought their
stonecutting skills to Barre. On the other side of town is
another, equally imposing statue personifying the Italian
stonemasons who also brought their skills to Barre.
The European immigrants brought with them a tradition of
organized labor, and Barre became the headquarters for the
Quarry Workers' International Union of North America. Still
standing on Granite Street is the old Socialist Labor Party
Hall, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
2000.
Rock of Ages--not the hymn but a quarry company with a
visitor center of the same name--is perhaps Barre's single
biggest tourist draw, typically attracting more than 100,000
visitors annually. In the fall, when the leaves turn
colorful, attendance peaks. But in mid-May, on the very first
day it opened for the summer season, my wife, Pat, and I
were pleased to find not much of a crowd. In fact, ours
was one of only three cars in the caravan that Roger, the
tour guide, led from the visitor center to the huge Rock
of Ages excavation site called the E.L. Smith Quarry.
Still, Roger jotted on an index card the number of cars
and the number of occupants in each car, so he could be
sure that he could account for everyone at tour's end--
that no one had fallen and vanished into the massive hole
in the ground. Covering about 50 acres and almost 600 feet
deep, it lays claim to being the world's largest operating
deep-hole quarry for dimension stone. (Crushed stone--
gravel--is the product of other quarries.)
Now retired after having worked most of his life in the
quarry, Roger knew whereof he spoke. He explained that the
granite quarried here--known as ``Barre Gray''--is known
worldwide for its fine grain, even texture and superior
weather resistance. Its unique proportions of quartz and
feldspar (granite's main ingredients) make it especially hard
while also exceptionally receptive to intricate carving and
sculpting.
The granite was formed as intrusive igneous rock
approximately 350 million years ago. Called a pluton by
geologists, the Barre granite formation is calculated to be
four miles long, two miles wide and 10 miles deep. Based on
what had been extracted since the Barre quarries began
operation in the 19th century, Roger estimated that ``it
would take 4,500 years to extract all the granite.''
Perched on the quarry's edge was a chain-link fence to
prevent visitors like us from
[[Page S4470]]
falling in. I had seen many quarries over the years, but
nothing like this. As if guarding a precious artwork, the
fence barrier seemed to make the scene that much more
spectacular, even otherworldly. The quarry's sheer sides,
where blocks and slabs had been cut away, looked like a huge
canvas of abstract art, with oxidized water stains dripping
like paint. At the very bottom was a turquoise pool, this
seemingly out-of-place color created by granite sediments and
crystals in the water when slabs of rock are cut. Framing the
scene in the far distance, the distinctive outline of Camel's
Hump, Vermont's third-highest peak, punctuates the horizon.
About five miles away is the Vermont Granite Museum, housed
in a renovated manufacturing shed that dates from the tum of
the last century. Although massive (about 30,000 square
feet), it was called a ``shed'' for its open layout and
cathedral-like ceiling. Machinery to cut and move the granite
blocks was powered by a dam and turbines on the nearby
Stevens Branch of the Winooski River. A railroad spur,
leading directly to the shed, could then transport the
finished stonework. Today's visitors are transported back in
time through hands-on exhibits and collections of rock
specimens and old tools, even industrial rollers made of
granite.
Nearby Hope Cemetery showcases local granite and the
artistry it spawned. Established in 1895, the 65-acre,
parklike setting is a splendid example of the 19th-century
garden cemetery movement, which favored burials in rural,
nonsectarian settings. The coincident, ever-more-popular use
of granite for tombstones and memorials created an outdoor
museum of sculpture. The once-prevalent sandstone slates and
marble headstones proved much less enduring than granite.
I've been called a tombstone tourist for past pilgrimages
to the dead-celebrity-populated burial ground Pere Lachaise
in Paris and Cimitero Acattolico, the Roman cemetery where
the poet John Keats's gravestone famously reads, ``Here lies
One Whose Name was writ in Water.'' But you don't have to be
a melancholic taphophile to appreciate the artistry on
display in Hope Cemetery, such as a Pieta-like statue and
realistic representations of violins and airplanes. It's the
``Uffizi of Necropolises,'' in the words of Vermont
folklorist Joseph A. Citro. All of the monuments are made of
Barre Gray, and virtually all have been sculpted by Barre
stonemasons--some for their own graves before they died.
For Pat and me, who had lost one old friend to covid-19, a
lone granite memorial in Hope Cemetery seemed especially
poignant. Erected on the centenary of the 1918 pandemic, it
commemorated the many Barre residents who had died of the
flu. They had suffered disproportionately because of their
existing silicosis (called stonecutters' disease) from
inhaling granite dust while working in unventilated sheds.
Our visit to Barre was not all about death and granite,
however. The trip easily included the Vermont fare of covered
bridges, village greens, white church spires and maple syrup.
Indeed, Pat insisted that we experience that quintessential
summertime taste of the Green Mountain State: a frosty
creemee. ``What's that?'' I asked. The delicious answer came
at the Morse Farm Maple Sugarworks: towering swirls of soft
ice cream, especially creamy, served in a cup or cone,
accented with a generous portion of maple syrup or straight
maple sugar.
As granite is hard and enduring, a creemee is soft and
ephemeral--a most harmonious balance.
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