![]() Dirt from the new highway tunnels was trucked in to fill the main quarries. A solution to the public safety problem was finally found with the massive Big Dig highway project in Boston. In 1985, Boston's Metropolitan District Commission purchased 22 acres, including Granite Railway Quarry, as the Quincy Quarries Reservation. The quarries, once drained of water, became a very popular canvas for graffiti artists. Often, divers sent to look for missing cliff jumpers would unexpectedly find other bodies instead. The injury and fatality rate skyrocketed. Unfortunately, these were quickly waterlogged and sank two feet underwater where they were not visible to the cliff jumpers above. Boston Rocks, a guidebook by Larry LaForge, was published by the MIT Outing Club in 1987 a second edition by Richard Doucette and Susan Ruff came out in 2003 with a copyright update in 2008.ĭuring the 1980s old telephone poles and trees were added to discourage cliff jumping. In 1968, A Guide to Quincy Quarries by Willie Crowther and Tony Thompson, published by the MIT Outing Club, contained information about climbing in and around the quarries a second edition was published in 1970. This led the police and the city of Quincy to grapple with what to do with this abandoned space.ĭuring this period, the quarries were also discovered by rock climbers. However, many people were injured-and killed-while diving into the quarries from great heights. The flooded quarries soon became a popular spot for cliff jumping. After their abandonment, the open quarries filled with rainwater and ground water. The granite from these quarries became famous throughout the nation, and stone cutting quickly became Quincy's principal economic activity. ![]() The " Granite Railway" was designed and built by railway pioneer Gridley Bryant and began operations on October 7, 1826. After many delays and much obstruction, a charter was granted on March 4, 1826, for the construction of a railroad to help move the granite. In 1825, after an exhaustive search throughout New England, Solomon Willard selected the Quincy site as the source of stone for the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. A 22-acre (8.9 ha) section of the former quarries is owned and operated by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation as a public recreation area. The Quincy Quarries in Quincy, Massachusetts, produced granite for over a century and were the site of the Granite Railway-often credited as being the first railroad in the United States. Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts, United States ![]()
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