The Newall granite quarry was opened in 1917 by Joseph Newall & Co of Westerly, Rhode Island. Stone was hauled to Lee by Flatcars from 1917-1923. Today it is Williams Stone run by Ed Williams. It is the longest operating granite quarry which used the historic Huckleberry Trolley Line instead of the Chester and Becket Railroad which only went as far as the Bowe Quarry (Allen Williams) in Blandford.

The Joseph Newall & Co., in Westerly RI, was established in 1885, and was a branch of the D.H. & J. Newall, in Dalbeattie, Scotland established by David, Homer and Joseph Newall in 1820. For many years, they had exported to the United States, but opened a quarry in 1883 in Niantic, RI, now Bradford, and started the manufacturing business run by David Newall. This quarry produced blue-white Westerly granite, ideal for monument work.

It changed management a few times…”The Lee and Chester Granite company, who are operating the Becket granite quarries under lease from Joseph Newall and son of Providence, RI are at the present time shipping one car load of stone per day from the Lee freight yards to points in New York city. They expect to increase the shipments to seven carloads a day soon. The stone is hauled from the quarries over the Western Massachusetts trolley line to the junction of that road with the N. Y. & N. H. near the Kennedy farm on the South Lee road, where it is transferred to the railroad.” Eagle 05-26-1921

Take a journey on the Chester and Becket Railroad with a Hilltown Hikers historical interpretive tour Sunday October 4th at 1pm Hampden Street in Chester and October 18th at 1pm at the Chester Granite and Polishing Works . Learn more about how granite changed Otis, Becket and Chester.  More info on www.hilltownhikers.com

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