Rock of Ages Corporation
Encyclopedia
Rock of Ages Corporation is a granite
quarrying
and finishing company
located in Graniteville
, Vermont
. It was founded in 1885. The company was one of the cemetery
-related businesses profiled in the 2005 PBS
documentary A Cemetery Special
.
The company employs around 230 people, and the company made a profit of around $800,000 in 2009 on revenues of $21.6 million, up from a loss of more than $2 million in 2008.
On 19 October 2010, Swenson Granite, based in Concord, New Hampshire
, announced that it and Rock of Ages had agreed to merge. Swenson paid Rock of Ages shareholders a total of $39 million.
ROAC maintains the world's largest "deep hole" granite quarry. The quarry is called the "E. L. Smith Quarry", and the Devonian
Barre Granite
is mined there.
The extravagant quarry is among some of the oldest types of rock on earth, coming from the inner core of the earth and slowly rising towards the earth's crust. Once granite reaches the ground's surface and the soft upper layers of dirt and gravel have worn away, the granite then reveals itself. Granite was originally quarried using primitive techniques which implemented hand saws and explosive charges to blast away the "benches" of the quarry. Modern techniques have evolved to include diamond-tipped wire saws and water jets. The White Granite extracted from this quarry is the highest quality granite in the world.
Visitors to the Rock of Ages factory and gift shop can also watch quarriers in the quarry cutting the granite away from the quarry wall.
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
quarrying
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
and finishing company
Company
A company is a form of business organization. It is an association or collection of individual real persons and/or other companies, who each provide some form of capital. This group has a common purpose or focus and an aim of gaining profits. This collection, group or association of persons can be...
located in Graniteville
Graniteville-East Barre, Vermont
Graniteville-East Barre is a former census-designated place defined for the 2000 census in the town of Barre, Washington County, Vermont, United States. The population of the CDP was 2,136 at the 2000 census. The CDP consists of three unincorporated villages in the town: Graniteville, East...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. It was founded in 1885. The company was one of the cemetery
Cemetery
A cemetery is a place in which dead bodies and cremated remains are buried. The term "cemetery" implies that the land is specifically designated as a burying ground. Cemeteries in the Western world are where the final ceremonies of death are observed...
-related businesses profiled in the 2005 PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
documentary A Cemetery Special
A Cemetery Special
A Cemetery Special is a 2005 PBS television documentary film by Rick Sebak of WQED. The documentary profiles cemeteries and cemetery-related businesses and events across the United States.The following cemeteries are covered in the film:...
.
The company employs around 230 people, and the company made a profit of around $800,000 in 2009 on revenues of $21.6 million, up from a loss of more than $2 million in 2008.
On 19 October 2010, Swenson Granite, based in Concord, New Hampshire
Concord, New Hampshire
The city of Concord is the capital of the state of New Hampshire in the United States. It is also the county seat of Merrimack County. As of the 2010 census, its population was 42,695....
, announced that it and Rock of Ages had agreed to merge. Swenson paid Rock of Ages shareholders a total of $39 million.
ROAC maintains the world's largest "deep hole" granite quarry. The quarry is called the "E. L. Smith Quarry", and the Devonian
Devonian
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic Era spanning from the end of the Silurian Period, about 416.0 ± 2.8 Mya , to the beginning of the Carboniferous Period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Mya...
Barre Granite
Barre Granite
thumb|left|The E. L. Smith Quarry, where the Barre Granite is minedthumb|left|Another view of the quarryThe Barre Granite is a Devonian granite pluton in Washington County, Vermont. It intrudes into the Waits River Formation...
is mined there.
The extravagant quarry is among some of the oldest types of rock on earth, coming from the inner core of the earth and slowly rising towards the earth's crust. Once granite reaches the ground's surface and the soft upper layers of dirt and gravel have worn away, the granite then reveals itself. Granite was originally quarried using primitive techniques which implemented hand saws and explosive charges to blast away the "benches" of the quarry. Modern techniques have evolved to include diamond-tipped wire saws and water jets. The White Granite extracted from this quarry is the highest quality granite in the world.
Visitors to the Rock of Ages factory and gift shop can also watch quarriers in the quarry cutting the granite away from the quarry wall.