• Specimen Number

  43

• Description

  Cut and polished slab of uniform gray granite. Identified by  Vermont survey staff.  It's "very likely that this granite slab is from the Rock of Ages Quarry in Barre, Vermont."

• Classification

  Igneous. Plutonic. Granitic. Granite. Gray.

• Location & Occurrence

  Part of the New Hampshire Plutonic Suite.

• Geological Age

  Devonian with a U/Pb age on zircon of ~364 Ma.

• Geoheritage

  One of the most uniform of all rocks here, a very common ornamental dimension stone.   Deepest granite hole quarry in United States, cut since 1885, mainly for gravestones. Quoting Atlas Obscura, "Most of America's granite headstones come from right here."

• Links

  Link to State Geological Map from USGS.  Link to Vermont Geological Survey. Description by Atlas Obscura.

• Other

   Why is it that gray, a dull color, is chosen for cemetery stones?

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