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The Old Stone Bridge between Rockport and Pigeon Cove
Several old postcards show the granite bridge that still connects Rockport and Pigeon Cove. But this is the only one I’ve seen that includes the locomotive that hauled granite between Flat Ledge Quarry...
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Rockport Granite Co. Wharf, Rockport, Mass., circa 1920
Here is a view of what is now called Granite Pier when it was still in active use by the Rockport Granite Company, which operated from 1865 to 1933. This postcard is not dated. It appears to come from...
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Granite Quarry, Rockport, Mass., circa 1910
As I noted in an earlier post, granite quarrying was long a major activity in Rockport, with granite first commercially excavated here in 1823. The most prominent of the quarry companies, the Rockport...
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Pigeon Cove Harbor and Sandy Bay, circa 1912
This postcard of Pigeon Cove is not dated. The derrick scow in the center of the photo appears to be the same one shown in an earlier post here putting granite blocks on the Sandy Bay breakwater. That...
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Rockport Granite Co. Works, Bay View, Mass., c. 1906
We are straying across the border from Rockport into Gloucester for this old view of the Rockport Granite Company’s wharves in Bay View. The site pictured here was in the news just this week, with the...
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The Inner Harbor After the Launching, Rockport, Mass., c. 1920
An earlier post here showed the launching of the “Evelyn and Ralph,” a reminder that shipbuilding was once common on Rockport’s Bearskin Neck. Another postcard showed a ship under construction on the...
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Stone Bridge, Rockport Granite Co., c. 1906
As I noted in an earlier post, the Rockport Granite Company built this 65-f00t arched bridge in 1872. It took just 11 weeks to build and, at the time, was one of the largest bridges in the state. The...
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The Loading Dock (Granite Pier), Rockport, Mass., 1908
This postcard provides a view of the level of industry that once dominated Granite Pier in Rockport. Now primarily used to launch and moor recreational boats and some lobster boats, Granite Pier was...
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Granite Delivery and Wharf, Rockport, Mass., circa 1908
Here is a view of two three-masted schooners being loaded with granite. The scene is what we now know as Granite Pier and which was then the pier of the Rockport Granite Co. Compare this postcard with...
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Rockport Granite Co’s Quarry (Flat Ledge), circa 1908
This postcard shows the Rockport Granite Company’s quarry, now known as Flat Ledge Quarry, around 1908. Compare this picture with this one of the same quarry. For other posts about the Rockport Granite...
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Rockport Granite Co. Steamer Wilhelmina Loading Stone, c. 1912
The caption says that this is the Steamer Wilhelmina and that it is taking on granite bound for Key West, Florida. The steamer is tied up along what today is known as Granite Pier. The small building...
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Granite Pier, Rockport, Mass., circa 1907
This is the first early-1900s postcard I’ve seen that refers to the Rockport Granite Company pier by the name Granite Pier. Although that is what we call it today, I had not previously found any...
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Rockport Granite Fountain at Union Station, Washington, D.C., circa 1911
For the Rockport Granite Company, perhaps its proudest achievement was the installation of two massive granite fountains in the plaza at Union Station in Washington, D.C., where they can still be seen...
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Granite Delivery and Wharf, Rockport, Mass., c. 1909
This postcard shows two separate wharves where granite was loaded onto schooners for shipment to places near and far. In the foreground is the present-day Granite Pier, then the wharf of the Rockport...
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Rockport Granite Photos: Granite Pier or Bay View?
These are two prints of photographs taken by Herman W. Spooner of workers at the Rockport Granite Co. The photographs are undated but were most likely taken between 1900 and 1910. The question is where...
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Rockport Granite Eagle for Boston’s Custom House Tower, c. 1914
In 1908, planning began to expand the Custom House on State Street in Boston, originally built in 1837. The preeminent architecture firm Peabody and Stearns won the commission for the design. When...
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Rockport Granite Co. Advertising Booklet, c. 1895
This is an eight-page advertising brochure for Rockport Granite Company. It was engraved and printed by John A. Lowell & Co. of Boston. It is undated. I estimate its date to be around 1895. My...
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