Quincy Quarries, Massachusetts

In 1825, the first granite quarry opened near Quincy, an area that would become a major supplier of the stone (which was used primarily in buildings, but which can also be seen throughout the Boston area as curb stone). The first commercial railway in the United States, known as the Granite Railway, originated at this site as well. The railway was built in 1826, and served as part of the transportation network used to supply granite to the Bunker Hill monument being built in Charlestown. The cars were pulled in one direction by animals, and by gravity in the other. The last Quincy area quarry closed in 1963. Many of the abandoned quarries came to be used as dumps (both official and unofficial), as well as unsupervised diving and swimming holes. After decades of use, a number of them presented sufficient safety hazards, to warrant their being filled to overflowing with 800,000 tons of excavated material from Boston's "Big Dig" freeway and tunnel project. The Quincy Quarries Reservation is a 22-acre park where some of the old quarry remnants protrude from the fill. Other parts have been turned into golf courses, like the Granite Links Golf Club.