Maine's Capital Area

This presentation will explore the history and products of a number of historic New England granite quarries. A knowledge of the sources of the material used in the fabrication of existing granite buildings and monuments is important in their care and maintenance.
A dozen or more granite-related books have been published, many of which
point up the need for a better understanding of where the stone was quarried
Merrill Quarry                                                   and how this can be determined.

Our speaker, Steven Haynes, the founder and curator of the Maine Granite Industry Historical Society museum, began the art of lapidary (cutting, grinding, and polishing of precious stones) at the age of 11. In the late 1960’s, Mr. Haynes traveled all over the state of Maine into long idle granite quarries and mines (a perfect laboratory for a young lapidist) where he cut and collected
specimens of historic stone. He was fired by the questions “where did the granite go and were there still people left to tell the story of this wonderful and vanishing trade?” To answer these questions and to keep the tradition alive, Haynes began to collect the tools of the trade, including a
hand-made wire saw and an antique surfacer and polisher. Eventually, with the support of Juanita
Sprague, he went on to assemble a collection of slides, oral history tapes, journals,
books, rock specimens, postcards, and photographs which formed the basis of the
Maine Granite Industry Historical Society’s museum.

The Kennebec Historical Society Public Presentation will take place on Wednesday, April 20, 2016, at 6:30pm at the Christ Church, 2 Dresden Avenue in Gardiner.