The Berkshire Pink Granite Company in Becket. The granite came out of the quarry wall in 4-or 6-foot blocks, each weighing hundreds of pounds. The blocks were then loaded onto a derrick and carried over to the 6-foot shot saw where they were cut down to size.

“That shot saw made your brains rattle,” said Miss Mitchell who has done her share of granite sawing. The metal shots (“about the size of ?.?. pellets,” said Miss Mitchell) poured off a conveyor belt and hit the stone at the same point of contact as the foot-long metal teeth of the saw. “It was the shots as much as the teeth that cut it,” said Miss Mitchell.

After the granite was cut to size, it went through a mechanized sanding process. As a final step, the stone was polished with tanoxide and a felt buffing wheel.

In 1965, a ton of Berkshire Pink Granite went for $100. Mr. Mitchell said he sold it “here and there” and mostly “to order.” He sold it for monuments, fireplaces and building facades. Carm’s Restaurant and Charlie’s Garage in Chester are both made of “Berkshire Pink” underneath that white paint. Many monuments in the Hilltown graveyards are also “Berkshire Pink.”

Mr. Mitchell said he shipped granite to West Springfield and Copack, N.Y. where it was used for building facades. Earl Seibert, a hockey player for the Chicago Black Hawks, came up from West Springfield 35 years ago and bought “Berkshire Pink” for his fireplace.

Exclusive photos courtesy of Becket Historical story from the Country Journal.

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