Blood Ledge – The Definitive View

Elizabeth Blood (widow of Joseph Blood) sold the quarry and lands to Col. Jonas French for the sum of $2,500.00.

The Rockport Granite Company’s marketing in the early 20th century featured a portfolio of black and white ad slicks featuring major architectural accomplishments using Cape Ann Granite. Below is Plate No.1 Reprinted from the Architectural Record, May 1923.

It features a Charles Cleaves photograph of Blood Ledge, below the ad slick is the photo itself in high resolution.

[Note you can see the image in very large super high resolution at http://www.capeanngranite.com]

NOTE: It may take you 2 – 3 minutes to load the image for viewing – it is BIG – like the Granite

Advertisement

The Day the Quarries Died on Cape Ann…

On the day the quarries died on Cape Ann, water pumps fell silent, the blasting powder fell back from the rocks, and a steady gurgle of water crept up from the quarry floor.

And yet in one very visible location, the past, the present and the future of quarrying lay open to public view. This image is from an area rarely visited by walkers today.

Its location is both difficult and dangerous to arrive at…

Lanesville, Say Something Nice About Rockport Granite Company or I’ll Box Your Ears

“Cut Stone bound for ‘Manhattan Bridge No.3,’ New York at Cutting Shed of Rockport Granite Company, Bay View, MA.”

Lanesville, the proud, the individual – – -and owned by the Rockport Granite Company

This is an amazing document which reveals the Rockport Granite Company as landowner; it is the written agreement between William L. Langsford (and Eli Morgan ,Elizabeth?) and the Rockport Granite Company.

The house purchase is for $225.00 outright, without title or ownership of land. The Rockport Granite Company reserves the right to give six months notice for the house to be moved off quarry property.

The contract is dated September 13th, 1865; notice given January(?) 29, 1869

Rockport Granite Company – The Hotbed of Cape Ann Granite

By 1920 the Rockport Granite Company owned every aspect of Granite Quarrying on Cape Ann. This image, taken from the back side of the Rockport Granite Company Corporate Headquarters shows in the foreground: Granite Pier – West & East Wharf. To the left background is the Pier for the Pigeon Hill Granite Company. Out in Sandy Bay, to the right along the horizon line are a sail boat, coal tender and US Naval Destroyer.

 

Quarry Time was not measured by the clock.

Quarry Time was measured by the various quarry whistles which blew through the work day. This image is titled: 13 quarrymen and 1 boy.

The measure of ‘man,’ versus ‘boy,’ is measured not in years of age, but experience of work.

Quarrymen Preferred Blond(in)s

This photo is of Johnson’s Quarry and provides a good view of the bull wheel derrick. In the background is a clear view of the Blondin, and in the foreground are an accumulation of grout scoops.

Sky View Cable View

This is a unique view of the cables in Flat Ledge Quarry, the far horizon line is dotted by the derricks of Pigeon Hill – Steel Derrick.

The recent addition of the three wind turbines in Gloucester hold only a small candle when measured by the size, frequency and scope of the Cape Ann Quarry Derricks

Joseph Babson Did Not Eat Vegan

The Hoe is the Terror of the Earth -Émile Verhaeren

“See how the hardest things proclaim their hardness from afar.

Alas–the absent hammer is about to strike!

Rainer Maria Rilke

…14 men paused from work. We see them watching the camera, watching us. The vocabulary of the pit does not cross the threshold of the horizon line. In the focus to their work, we are ignored. We are not seen above the granite dust, the compressor pumps, the air drills. We do not exist except at this moment behind the camera.