Late in the 19th century, stone was king of building materials and much of the cut stone which helped transform New York into the Empire State came from Schoharie County. There were eight limestone quarries in the town of Cobleskill, with six in the village alone. The largest, located near Barnerville, employed 450 men to fulfill a huge contract with the city of New York, worth the equivalent of approximately $65 million today.
These are not the same quarries we see today; they have all since been abandoned.
The Schoharie County Historical Society will host “Boom and Bust: The Abandoned Stone Quarries of Schoharie County,” a lecture by local author Dana Cudmore, set for Sunday, May 7th at Schoharie’s Lasell Hall. Cudmore will look at some of the largest stone quarries in the county and catalog others, and consider how that demand for stone helped shape Schoharie County.
A Q&A session will follow the presentation and signed copies of Cudmore’s 2021 book Underground Empires: Two Centuries of Exploration, Adventure, and Enterprise in NY’s Cave Country will be available to those attending.
This program will begin at 2 pm. Admission is by donation. Lasell Hall is located at 262 Main Street, Schoharie. For more information click here.
Photo: The Schoharie Quarry in Cobleskill.
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