These quarries produced granite, ironstone and slate. The major
quarry, the one closest to the posted cords was one of the first to
be used by the Royal Engineers. Because the first quarry was
established very close to the sea there was little difficulty
getting granite aboard the barges for delivery to it's
destination.
However more granite was needed, and a second quarry was
established at a much higher elevation on the granite outcropping,
so a railway was constructed(first in Nova Scotia)to haul stone
from both quarries to the barges at the wharf site. In the past
there had been a military wharf built of stone near the quarries ,
after the railroad was put in use the wharf was modified and
strenghtened so the trolley wagons could transfer the large cut
stones to ocean barges, to haul to building sites.
In 1910, over 3500 t (approx. 4,000 tons) of granite were
extracted from granite quarries around Purcells Cove - one of five
former granite production sites in the Halifax area. Nova Scotia
building stone is of excellent quality and durability; its high
standard is comparable with that of European stone which has been
imported for decorative use on Halifax buildings constructed in the
last two or three decades.
In order to
claim this Earthcache please post a picture of you and/or your GPS
at one of the buildings that was built by the purcells cove
quarries background. Also, e-mail me the answers to the following
three questions:
1. Name at least three buildings that were constructed using stone
from the purcells cove quarries.
2.What year was the railroad constructed?(on the sign in
purcells cove)
3.What is the height of the quarry from the road to the top of
the ledge?
You do not
need to wait for confirmiation from me before posting online.
However, any logs that do not fulfill ALL requirements will be
deleted.