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Rock of Ages in Barre (map)
Founded in 1885, Rock of Ages is a granite quarrying and finishing company located in Graniteville, VT, which is a census-designated place in the town of Barre. In 2016, Rock of Ages was purchased by the Polycor Inc, which made it the largest marble and granite producer in North America. The name “Rock of Ages” was retained as a brand name.
The majority of Rock of Ages’ business is for tombstones. But they also supplied granite for the Vermont State House and other important buildings. Some of those are featured in the visitor center. The visitor center is very informative and here you can purchase tickets to the guided tours that start at the visitor center 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm. When we purchased our tickets, we were told that the bus was already full but that we could drive behind the bus to the quarry. The tour goes to an overlook of the Smith Quarry which, at almost 600ft deep, is the largest operating deep-hole granite quarry in the world. The turquoise water in the quarry is beyond belief. If you have binoculars, bring them to get a better look. Our tour was given by a granite miner who worked at this quarry in the past and he had an answer to just about any question we threw at him. During our tour, they removed one granite wall section and it was interesting to see how this huge and heavy wall piece came down.
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