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.