History of Lovejoy Granite
and the Quarry Cleanup



Stonehaven is located at the site of one of the abandoned quarries from the Lovejoy Granite Company near the summit of Treasury Hill. The 10-acre parcel was purchased by the sculptor in 1990 (long before he took up stone carving) and includes the 2-acre eastern quarry.



2010s Aerial view of abandoned quarries from the Lovejoy Granite company, locally called "Twins". Stonehaven's quarry is on the right.



1950s satellite view of Treasury Hill, showing the large number of quarries cut into the hill. What will become Stonehaven is in the center.



Stonehaven's quarry shortly before it was abandoned in the 1930s. Two men are standing in the deepest point (click image to expand).



The same corner in 2007, with 95' of water covering the deep spot.



The Lovejoy brothers started their granite quarrying business in the 1880s. The site was worked for about 50 years.



Mounds of cobblestones (paving stones) sit beside rail tracks. In 1900, they shipped 800 rail car loads of hand-cut cobbles per year.



A $100 Lovejoy Granite Company common stock certificate from 1912.



1908: Lovejoy won contract of 30 columns for the US Treasury Building in Washington DC, which is why we call it Treasury Hill.



The columns are monolithic (one solid piece), each raw block measuring 4.5 ft x 4.5 ft x 31.5 ft and weighing about 55 tons.



A postcard of the US Treasury Building showing the intended location of the new columns.



After shaping, tapering and fluting in Boston, the finished columns were shipped to DC. Here, the first column is being installed.



Lovejoy employed about 150 stone cutters, who were a hardy bunch of mostly immigrants. Sadly, they died young from deadly stone dust.



During the 50 years it was abandoned, it became a swimming hole magnet for people from 50 miles away. Some brought spray cans.



We could chart the rise and fall of rock bands by where they were found in the strata of graffiti. Grateful Dead was in all layers.



On any sunny Saturday during summer months there could be 100 to 200 people hanging out at the quarry, some painting graffiti from canoes.



This crush of humanity left trash in their wake, including tens of thousands of beer cans and bottles sunk in the quarry's crystal clear water.



A plague of shattered glass covered every surface. Sweeping didn't work, it had to be pried up with a putty knife.



Even the underwater shelves were covered in broken glass. It had to be mucked up, shoveled out and hauled away in buckets.



In some areas the muck and broken glass was so deep it had to be shoveled onto one shelf, then up onto another shelf, then into a wheelbarrow.



This is one afternoon's haul from scuba diving with a team of 6 divers. Filled a pickup bed to the gunnels. Only made a dent.



Built a plywood dam stuffed with rags to hold back quarry so I could pump out wading pool and muck it out down to bedrock.



Wading pool after cleanup. Used rocks to make a retaining wall holding back the vegetation (blueberry bushes and maple trees).



After many failed attempts (scraper, wire brush, propane flame thrower) to remove graffiti, I bought a sandblaster. That worked. Was hard.



30 years after sandblasting the entire north wall, the forest patina has returned.





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