The Rock of Ages Granite Quarry is a very big operation and will continue working for many years. This mountain of granite is 8 miles square and 10 miles deep! The specific area they are working is 500 feet across and they are working down so deep, 600 feet, that we were unable to see them because of the walls. There is a 4500 year supply of granite in this area. This area only has a light gray granite called Barre Gray. Since there are requests for other colors of granite Rock of Ages owns 10 other quarries in the US and overseas. From these other quarries they are able to supply all colors of granite. Seventy percent of granite is used for tombstone memorials, statues and other memorials, and buildings. The other 30 percent is used in many industries where granite is necessary. First we walked to a viewing area above the huge building where memorial stones are cut to size prepared and sand blasted to “cut in the wording and graphics on the stone. The highly skilled craftsmen who prepare these stones first glue, a sheet of rubber to the stone; then the pattern is applied so the craftsman can make cuts in the rubber leaving uncovered the areas of the stone that will be sand blasted.
The stones on the assembly line have written instructions laying on them so that the craftsman knows exactly what is to be put on it. He prepares it and then it is transferred to the gray building, just out of the right side of this picture, to be sand blasted. The sand blasting is a fairly fast procedure.
This craftsman is just finishing preparing the stone to be sand blasted.
