WeRmudfun
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We wanted to add to our ‘Unique Hikes’ series on YouTube, so we went to explore the Redstone Quarry in Redstone Village, NH. Redstone Village is one of the 6 villages that make up Conway ,NH. What an incredible place this used to be and still is. It is located at the base of Rattlesnake Mountain, the one in Conway (no trails to the summit), named for yes, because of rattlesnakes. A fire in the 1870’s wiped out the population, so by the time they started to remove the granite, the snake were not a problem.
We started by going to the memorial park located at the entrance of the village on RT 302 The quarry was operated from 1884-1948. This quarry was rare because it was able to produce red and green granite just a few 100 yards from each other. Along with its parent company in Vermont that produced gray granite, they had the edge over other quarries by offering 3 colors of granite. There is a couple pieces of granite there in the park, the red stone has the village history craved into it and the green stone has a time line craved into it. The village itself has roughly 20 homes that used to be owned by the Redstone Quarry Company, they are all privately owned now. The quarry sits behind all the homes and is very evident looking at the mountain.
There is an entrance from the village, but we didn’t see anywhere to park, so we went to a road on the left side of Walmart. There is ample parking there and a trailhead kiosk. It appears that this is a work in progress and hopefully there will be trail signs and a map soon as there are a lot trails out there and none are marked.
The first thing we saw was a pilaster on the side of the trail, which is a column that has a flat side to go up against a wall on a building. What a beautiful piece of granite it is too, just laying out there. Shortly after that is a gate and there is a footpath that can be followed on the right of the gate. We had found through research that there are or were walking tours that used to be given through the quarry. The trails are all well-defined, but again, they are not marked.
In the quarry there is are tons and tons of artifacts out there; boilers, huge air compressors, giant lathes, derricks (crane-like lifting beams), building remains, extreme amounts of granite scraps, railroad tracks and lots of history! While exploring in the quarries there are views to be had too, we just had to turn around.
We saw so much that we couldn’t possibly put it all in the video. It was a tough video to make too, deciding what stayed and what got cut. The video is just under 12 minutes long and it is jam packed with what we found. Seeing the rough cutting and polishing lathes were a sight to see and the Green Quarry derricks rising up out of the water was also amazing to see.
Overall for an adventure that we only thought would take 2 hours tops, we spent the whole day there and could have easily spent a few more hours, but it was getting dark, so we had to regretfully leave the quarry. If you enjoy NH’s past history and love seeing artifacts, then you owe it to yourself to check this place out.
We started by going to the memorial park located at the entrance of the village on RT 302 The quarry was operated from 1884-1948. This quarry was rare because it was able to produce red and green granite just a few 100 yards from each other. Along with its parent company in Vermont that produced gray granite, they had the edge over other quarries by offering 3 colors of granite. There is a couple pieces of granite there in the park, the red stone has the village history craved into it and the green stone has a time line craved into it. The village itself has roughly 20 homes that used to be owned by the Redstone Quarry Company, they are all privately owned now. The quarry sits behind all the homes and is very evident looking at the mountain.
There is an entrance from the village, but we didn’t see anywhere to park, so we went to a road on the left side of Walmart. There is ample parking there and a trailhead kiosk. It appears that this is a work in progress and hopefully there will be trail signs and a map soon as there are a lot trails out there and none are marked.
The first thing we saw was a pilaster on the side of the trail, which is a column that has a flat side to go up against a wall on a building. What a beautiful piece of granite it is too, just laying out there. Shortly after that is a gate and there is a footpath that can be followed on the right of the gate. We had found through research that there are or were walking tours that used to be given through the quarry. The trails are all well-defined, but again, they are not marked.
In the quarry there is are tons and tons of artifacts out there; boilers, huge air compressors, giant lathes, derricks (crane-like lifting beams), building remains, extreme amounts of granite scraps, railroad tracks and lots of history! While exploring in the quarries there are views to be had too, we just had to turn around.
We saw so much that we couldn’t possibly put it all in the video. It was a tough video to make too, deciding what stayed and what got cut. The video is just under 12 minutes long and it is jam packed with what we found. Seeing the rough cutting and polishing lathes were a sight to see and the Green Quarry derricks rising up out of the water was also amazing to see.
Overall for an adventure that we only thought would take 2 hours tops, we spent the whole day there and could have easily spent a few more hours, but it was getting dark, so we had to regretfully leave the quarry. If you enjoy NH’s past history and love seeing artifacts, then you owe it to yourself to check this place out.
