Stone Trail honors history, geology

MIDDLEBURY | The Vermont Stone Trail presents a multi-day adventure for rockhounding and history enthusiasts. You can visit fascinating quarries and related industrial sites, art museums, native-stone sculpture, architecture, as well as parks and even cemeteries. Vermont's Stone Trail began as the state's way of attracting tourists to explore the history and geology of the granite, marble and slate belts which span the state in their own, individual areas. All sites along the Vermont Stone Trail reflect the individual character of particular region's natural resource of stone and how it became a part of the culture of the local area. Here we picked only a single "must-see" site from each of the three regions along the trail; there are lots more, skipped due to lack of space (so, it's up to you to check them all out and explore). We recommend that you pick up a free copy of the detailed, color booklet "The Vermont Stone Trail" published by the State of Vermont. Telephone 1-800-VERMONT to request your copy or stop by a Vermont Welcome Center or tourist site. Southern Region: • Norcross-West Quarry: Visit one of the state's oldest marble quarries opened in 1785 and closed in 1920. Private owners welcome the public and you can picnic at the site and enjoy its scenic marble cliffs and placid spring-fed water. Central Region: • Omya Marble Quarry: You can visit one of the world's largest open pit marble mines where most of the world's food-grade calcium carbonate originates. The Omya Company is international in scope and the public may visit the quarry once a year. So, on Sept. 15, the public can descend into the giant Middlebury pit to see a modern quarrying in operation. The quarry access road is located on the east side of Route 7, two miles south of Middlebury. For Sept. 15 reservations and information, visitomya.com. Northern Region: • Chazy Fossil Reef: Chazy Fossil Reef, centered at Isle La Motte, is a United States National Natural Landmark spanning three Lake Champlain islands in New York and Grand Isle County, Vermont. The site is recognized as the oldest known diverse fossil reef in the world, and contains fossil. The 1,567-acre site was dedicated as a National Natural Landmark in 2009. The reef is an observable portion of the larger Chazy Formation which extends from Quebec to Tennessee. The location features an exposed Ordovician fossil reef, approximately 450 to 480 million years old, containing fossils from what was once a tropical marine environment. The site is recognized as the oldest known fossil reef that contains substantial biological diversity.

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Stone Trail honors history, geology

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