Hammers on Stone: The Granite Industry on Cape Ann

For over a century, the granite industry played a vital role in Cape Ann’s economy, providing work for men from across New England and around the world, generating profits for those fortunate enough to share in ownership of the region’s many quarries, and contributing to the unique and authentic sense of place that characterizes Cape Ann today. On a broader scale, the industry contributed significantly to building and transportation projects across our nation during a sustained period of growth and expansion.

Drawing on the Cape Ann Museum’s extensive holdings of objects and archival materials related to the industry, most of which were gifted to the Cape Ann Museum by historian Barbara Erkkila (1918-2013), Hammers on Stone will explore the history of the granite trade and its impact on the community. The exhibition will examine methods of harvesting, cutting, and finishing stone, as well as how granite was transported from quarry to wharf and further afield. The exhibit will also explore the lives of those involved in quarrying and consider how the industry helped shape Cape Ann’s artistic landscape, inspiring generations of artists to the present day.

Image: Samuel Lewis Pullman (1900-1961), Quarryman Joe Boston, 1930, oil on canvas. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. Gift of Abner and Miriam (Pullman) Diamond, 1994. (1994.036.001).