Post by Titania on Nov 19, 2007 9:53:10 GMT -5
Well, after visiting the Worcester Gem & Mineral show this weekend, I noticed some vendors selling locally-collected mineral specimens. Several really nice schorl pieces were from a locale near me in Fitchburg, MA. So, yesterday, hubbie and I decided to try to find where these were collected. It took a while, but we managed to find our way up there.
The place is a long-abandoned granite quarry called Rollstone Hill Quarry. Here's the google satelite map:
It was tough to find a place that wouldn't require trespassing to get up to the quarry. We finally found a nice place to park over on Litchfield St, with a nice path through the woods up to the quarry.
There's loads of grey granite as far as the eye can see, but every now and then, you'll see a seam of quartz running through a piece. We ended up bringing home several really, really nice schorl specimens in both white quartz and a smokey grey quartz. We didn't have much time to spend, only about an hour, as it was getting dark. Several hours would have been nice. We plan on going back up in the next few weeks, if the weather holds up. We didn't think to bring a camera with us, unfortunately...the views are breathtaking up there. But I will post up some photos of the specimens we found.
It's a fairly easy walk up to the quarry as long as you stay on the path. The quarry itself is quite easy to get around, as well. The mining company basically tore the top off a hill, so it's fairly flat up there, no large dangerous pits to crawl around in to find stuff.
The place is a long-abandoned granite quarry called Rollstone Hill Quarry. Here's the google satelite map:
It was tough to find a place that wouldn't require trespassing to get up to the quarry. We finally found a nice place to park over on Litchfield St, with a nice path through the woods up to the quarry.
There's loads of grey granite as far as the eye can see, but every now and then, you'll see a seam of quartz running through a piece. We ended up bringing home several really, really nice schorl specimens in both white quartz and a smokey grey quartz. We didn't have much time to spend, only about an hour, as it was getting dark. Several hours would have been nice. We plan on going back up in the next few weeks, if the weather holds up. We didn't think to bring a camera with us, unfortunately...the views are breathtaking up there. But I will post up some photos of the specimens we found.
It's a fairly easy walk up to the quarry as long as you stay on the path. The quarry itself is quite easy to get around, as well. The mining company basically tore the top off a hill, so it's fairly flat up there, no large dangerous pits to crawl around in to find stuff.
