Hamilton Quarry Hike

Almost no one in Granite has ever heard of the Hamilton Quarry, including John Brantley, the hike leader, who has lived in Granite most of his life. Five or six years ago, he happened on a mention of the quarry on a mining map and then found one, single newspaper clipping from 1872 where a granite quarry was being offered for lease by Cornelius Owings, the same Cornelius Owings involved with opening Fox Rock Quarry along with his two brothers. The former farmhouse of Owings, where Louis Hamilton later lived (thus the name Hamilton Quarry), was a short distance from the quarry. Only remnants of a foundation still exist today. The quarry pit is much larger than one would expect from a quarry which no local history buffs in Granite had ever heard of. There is current evidence of a road at the quarry leading in one direction towards Hernwood Road and in the other direction towards the river. Piles of granite scrap and rubble are scattered about the site. The road and the rubble are telltale signs that this was a working quarry way more than a hundred years ago.