Prior to the introduction of cement in the early 1800's, the stone industry was one of the primary industries in New York State employing many talented craftsman and quarrymen. Today, dry laid stonework is primarily used in the construction of retaining walls, patios and walk ways and of necessity it is done by hand as it was many years ago.
The introduction of cement is not the only technology to affect the stone industry. In the early 19th century stone work was done with malleable iron tools. The invention of the “Bessemer” process to make steel provided greatly improved tools for quarrying and stone cutting. In my life I have seen the introduction of carbide and diamond tools which has had great affect on the craft. Of course lifting and moving machinery like excavators, loaders, and trucks have removed a lot of the labor from the industry. Unfortunately The stone still must be laid by hand and there is a shrinking supply of craftsmen.
This monumental construction is Opus 40 by Henry Feight near Woodstock NY.
The blue stone quarry industry in New York was big business and from Coeyman's Hollow south to Woodstock there are thousands of quarries where blue stone was mined. There was always a preference for the quarries with a down hill trip to the river where the stone was loaded on barges for shipment. I have studied the history of the quarry industry and have perused many of these old quarries. It is mind boggling when you walk for miles at a quarry site and view thousands of tons of over burden that you know was moved by hand.
Anyone that would like to see a good example of this industry should go to OPUS40 near Woodstock and walk the woods adjacent to Henry Feights monumental work. The amount of stone still lying in the overburden piles is tremendous. Since that quarry was used primarily to cut side walk stones for NYC anything less than 3'x3' or over 3" thick was rejected as junk. In Quarryville there are hundreds of acres of quarries. I know of quarries where hundreds of pieces of flagstone are stacked ready for shipment but there has been no road leading to the location for over 150 years. Near the town of Reidsville NY there is a landing stone 9'x18'x10" that is sitting on blocks hand cut and prepared for shipment and the nearest road is almost two miles away. This stone weighs over 25,000 lbs and I would like to meet the men that thought they could ship this stone using hands and horses or oxen. I definitely would not want to be the despised Van Renssalear Tax Collector that had to climb Cass Hill to enforce tax collection from these guys. I would think that getting tarred and feathered was getting off easy.
Today we quarry very little as the stone that was rejected as junk and placed on the overburden piles is high quality wall stone. Bruce Obrien of NY Quarries in Alcove told me that for many years his father operated the quarry and did many constructions using stone from the overburden piles as it was unnecessary to mine stone. The O'Brien family has been responsible for teaching the stone craft to many employees over the years and much of my knowledge can be traced to that source as we have utilized many of the same workers. I have always believed in hiring knowledgeable workers and learning all I could from them.
In the southern part of NY state there is also what they call a blue stone industry. In my mind this is really not blue stone but I feel should be more accurately called Catskill PA. This stone is lighter in color than upper Devonian blue stone and it runs flatter so that it is easier to produce large flag stones. Most of the patios and walkways that I do today use this stone rather than true blue stone as the cost for true blue stone flagging is prohibitive. Catskill PA comes in a light blue green color and lilac.
George Steeves, Landscape Construction, continues the tradition of this craft
that is centuries old doing landscape structures, barn foundations, and restorations.