There are several basalt outcropings in the area seen just off the road, including one about 30 feet away. Basalt is formed 3 ways, and this is one of them. This is a continental environment where a mantle plume or hotspot delivers enormous amounts of basaltic lava through the continental crust and up to Earth's surface. There are many known old volcano's in the Vernon to Cherryville area, and this likely came from one of the fissures.
To claim this there are two questions to send answers to:
1-not all basalts are the same colour..what colour is this one?
2- name one or two things basalt is used for.