"Moose Island and Grotch Island, Stonington, Maine 410 Eaton's" "Moose Island and Grotch Island, Stonington, Maine 410 Eaton's" "Moose Island and Grotch Island, Stonington, Maine 410 Eaton's"

LB2010.9.118112

[included in the exhibit "Hancock County Through Eastern's Eye"] LB2010.9.118112 Crotch Island and Moose Island, Stonington, Maine 10.? John L. Goss was the son of Stonington granite pioneer Job Goss, who had replaced animal power with hoisting engines for derricks in the 1880s. The Goss quarries on Moose and Crotch Islands produced fine stone that was in demand for construction and monuments. "Sherwood Pink" and "Goss Pink" were prized by builders for their hardness. The coastal location of the quarries with deep water was important for shipping granite by schooner to Boston and New York. Benvenue Granite Company, a New York construction firm, began operations on Crotch Island in 1905, quarrying granite for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and approaches and anchorage for the Manhattan Bridge. The company ceased operations by July 1910, abandoning machines and buildings. The quarry reopened in 1924 by the Deer Isle Granite Corporation. Its 1931 contract for two towers for New York's Triborough Bridge was the last big job for the company. Credit: Deer Isle-Stonington Historical Society