Vermont has no shortage of resources, it seems. We've enjoyed learning about it's production above-ground...cheese, cider, syrup and even trees. Today, we went deeper, 600 feet deeper to be exact, touring the Rock of Ages quarry in Graniteville. It's the deepest granite mine in North America; there are bigger quarries elsewhere, but they're surface-mined. This one uses three crane derricks to lift blocks that weigh around 30 tons, some of them resting on the bottom of the pit, 60 stories down. Depending on where the blocks are in their removal process, as many as eight are lifted in one day. But there's no chance of the workers running themselves out of a job; geologists have told Rock of Ages that this particular deposit will last the company another 4,500 years at the current rate of digging.
The rock produced here, called Barre Gray (think Barry--as in Manilow--for the correct pronunciation!), is world-renowned for its small, fine grain and is in high demand for memorial stones the world over. While much of the quarried rock is sold unfinished at wholesale, the Rock of Ages company has an extensive cutting, grinding and fabrication factory. Its team of carvers and sand-blasters, many of whom come from generations of Northern Italian and Polish rock artisans, are quite proud of many nationally-known jobs, including the thousands of names etched into the granite of the National Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
And lest you think we're ignorant of the favorite product to come out of Vermont, don't worry--we saved the best tour for last...Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream. The Vermont buddies who, in 1978, split the $5 cost of a correspondence course in homemade ice cream have grown their kooky but delicious brand into a worldwide phenomena. The original Waterbury factory, which we toured today, can produce as many as 250,000 pints in one day, and it's one of the smaller of the company's six factories (three of which are in other countries). The best part of the tour is the tasting room, at the tour's conclusion. Today's sample flavor was Americone Dream, a concoction inspired by Stephen Colbert, containing vanilla bean ice cream with caramel swirls and bits of chocolate-covered waffle cone. We hope it's a keeper; Ben and Jerry's has 60 current flavors, and more than 300 in its flavor graveyard, their fate after being retired.
Outside at the scoop shop, we each enjoyed a kiddie scoop (the tour sample wasn't nearly big enough!). Stan opted for the newest flavor, called Late Night Snack, this one inspired by Jimmy Kimmel. It's a vanilla-bean base with fudge-covered potato-chip clusters and a salty caramel swirl. He loved it!
We'll have a quiet day tomorrow, getting caught up on school and laundry, and hopefully getting a break in the expected rain so we can work off some of our Vermont pounds. We've fallen in love with this gorgeous state and have enjoyed more warm conversations with locals than at any point on our trip thus far. It's a very special place that will be hard to leave on Thursday.
Problems uploading photos tonight...will try again tomorrow.
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