Quarrymen and Stone Carvers

2010 May 20
by Leah Nahmias

This week The Bigger Picture, the blog of the Smithsonian Photography Initiative, posted a photo of workmen posing among the giant blocks of marble they were quarrying from a site in Bethel, Vermont.  The picture reminded me of the quarrymen who hail from the same part of the world as I do, southern Indiana.  Indiana limestone covers the facades of many of the great skyscrapers of the modern period, including the one I now work across the street from, the Empire State Building.

Workmen in a marble quarry in Bethel, Vermont (Smithsonian)

Workmen in a marble quarry in Bethel, Vermont (Smithsonian)

Men quarrying limestone near Bedford, Indiana (Indiana Historical Society)

Men quarrying limestone near Bedford, Indiana (Indiana Historical Society)

Indiana stone carvers at work in 1929 (Indiana Historical Society)

Indiana stone carvers at work in 1929 (Indiana Historical Society)

Though the product of their work quarrying and carving stone is found on many university campuses, state and national capitols, and skyscrapers, the lives of the people who drew and shaped the massive blocks of stone from the ground is much less well known.  I myself know only a little, but one story I do know is worth telling.  The center of Indiana’s limestone industry is Bedford, which, because it has been the home of generations of skilled stone carvers, features some of the quirkiest and most delightful headstones anywhere in its local cemetery.  My favorite is that of Louis Baker.  It turns out Louis died young, struck by lightning in 1917 at age 23.  As a tribute his fellow carvers crafted an exact replica of Louis’s workbench the way he left it, with the chisel, mallet, brush, and work apron strewn about.  I once saw a photograph of this stone online with a caption that mis-identified the tools as a woodworker’s, conjecturing that the unknown “Baker” must have loved making furniture: a nice idea, I thought, but pretty ignorant of the nature of work and working people in this part of the world.

Louis Baker's headstone, Green Hill Cemetery, Bedford, Indiana

Louis Baker's headstone, Green Hill Cemetery, Bedford, Indiana

Photos from the Smithsonian, Indiana Historical Society, and the “Stories in Stone” blog.

Last 5 posts by Leah Nahmias

from → General Social History

4 Comments
2010 May 20
Catherine Shteynberg permalink

This is so cool! Thank you for sharing these additional photos from Bethel–I’ll pass them along to my colleagues at the Smithsonian. Coincidentally, I used to often drive around the Bethel in college after the obligatory stop at Eaton’s Sugar House.

2010 May 20
Catherine Shteynberg permalink

I meant to say: This is so cool! Thank you for sharing these additional photos–I’ll pass them along to my colleagues at the Smithsonian. Coincidentally, I used to often drive around the Bethel in college after the obligatory stop at Eaton’s Sugar House beforehand.

2010 May 20
Leah Nahmias permalink

Hey, glad you liked, Catherine, but just to clarify, the other pictures below the Bethel quarry (first photo) are from limestone quarries near Bedford, Indiana. Now, I wonder if in college people near Bethel would go swimming in old quarries, as they do in southern Indiana (a scene memorably depicted in the movie Breaking Away)?

2010 May 21
Catherine Shteynberg permalink

Yep, sorry about the mix up–that’s why I submitted the second comment… Quarry swimming was definitely a common activity around Bethel, and I used to do the same growing up in KY–perhaps it’s a national pasttime 🙂 Keep the photos coming–we’re enjoying them!

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