HILLTOWN HISTORY of when Granite was first discovered in Becket. Charles Mitchell tells of his grandfather William York. Becket, this is where much of the country’s finest granite is.  After years of searching, Mitchell’s grandfather, William York, discovered some of the area’s finest light-blue granite deposits in the 1880’s in Becket.

Mitchell said that his grandfather spent years traveling around Vermont, Virginia, New York and Cape Cod looking for the elusive blue granite deposits that artisans dream about for making monuments.  Even though he seemed to have settled in Hudson, New York after he set up his first granite yard early in the 1880’s, York’s eye was still on the lookout whenever he ventured to new territories.

In 1885, York’s dream briefly came to life. “I can’t imagine it,” said Mitchell, “but grandfather and his brother were traveling by horse and buggy from Springfield back to Hudson, when they discovered a granite ledge just past Blandford Road, up on the left. They broke open the boulders, and saw that it was just what they had been searching for in open quarries everywhere. He knew, immediately, that it was the end of the search.”

Mitchell’s grandfather settled in Chester after that, but everything did not end up completely well. After paying $500 for the valuable piece of land, Mitchell’s grandfather lost his right to it in a crooked land deal. “Seems that grandfather’s bookkeeper had his own ideas, didn’t record the transaction, and sold it to somebody else,” explains Mitchell, sadly. “He didn’t fight the land case, and took it with a grain of salt,” said Mitchell, adding “that it was kind of the end for the poor fella.” Country Journal 1980 interview.

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