Lobsters and rock

In Vinalhaven, Maine, columns quarried for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York (installation completed in 1904). Many large and small buildings were made from granite quarried on the Maine Coast.

“It was a Maine lobster town –

each morning boatloads of hands

pushed off for granite

quarries on the islands,

and left dozens of bleak

white frame houses stuck

like oyster shells

On a hill of rock….’’

-- From “Water,’’ by Robert Lowell

Colorized photo of the East Side of Vinalhaven in 1905.