The Mattapoisett Land Trust is looking to acquire a 53-acre parcel off Mattapoisett Neck Road, once the site of the historic Hammond Quarry, an active pink granite mine dating back to about 1710 up until the early 1900s.
Although the region is most famous for its whaling history, the area was once a significant spot for the sought-after pink granite used to build the foundations of local homes, wharves, piers, and street curbs, as well as lighthouses, in addition to being exported far and wide.
The MLT is hoping to purchase the land, preserve the two quarry pits that lie hidden beneath overgrown brush and towering white pines in the woods, and carve out hiking trails and build information kiosks for public use with the assistance of the Mattapoisett Historical Society.
The acquisition, appraised at $570,000, would serve as a link that would create roughly 400-plus acres of contiguous conservation land, linking the Hammond Quarry to the bike path, surrounding Land Trust properties, and also the Nasketucket Bay State Reservation.
MLT President Mike Huguenin said the Mattapoisett Land Trust has applied for Community Preservation Act funding for $75,000; however, the Mattapoisett Community Preservation Committee has not yet received an application from the MLT by deadline for consideration in the current funding cycle. Huguenin is also hopeful that the Land Trust might be granted state funding for $300,000 due to the presence of an endangered box turtle habitat. The rest of the funding, the Land Trust hopes, will come from private donations.
“We think we have the potential to preserve a good piece of history and wildlife habitat that is significant to the town,” said Huguenin.
Huguenin led a group of over 50 residents on a walk about the property on Saturday, November 26, on newly cleared trails the property owner allowed the Land Trust to clear for the occasion. Trails led to two quarry pits: the east pit – dry, covered with debris with large white pines reaching up towards the sky, and the west pit – surrounded by granite outcroppings and stagnant water filling the pit like milk at the bottom of a cereal bowl.
The trails slope up and down slightly through the woodland, with holly groves and baby pines filling in the lower space of the woods over the almost 100 years since mining at the site ceased.
Little is known about the history of Hammond Quarry, but the Land Trust and Historical Society is digging deep into the past of the site, mining as much information about it to share with the public and make the land acquisition one that Mattapoisett residents will treasure – not just for its historical value, but also for its natural beauty.
Mattapoisett currently boasts over 2,800 acres of protected open space.
“We just think it would be great to add these old quarries to that,” said Huguenin.
For more information or to make a donation towards the acquisition of Hammond Quarry, visit www.mattlandtrust.org.
By Jean Perry
