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GlasssandquarryUncovering a lost Berkshire industryBy Thom SmithSpecial to The EagleWASHINGTON — For some years I had thought it a brilliant move to open a glass factory on Cape Cod with its endless source of beach sand in the factory’s back yard. That was until Susan and I visited the Sandwich Glass Museum and discovered that the Boston and Sandwich Glass Co., founded in 1825, was not located on Cape Cod for its abundant sand, as 1 assumed, but for the abundance of trees to power the furnaces and its proximity to shipping.In part the sand came from Western Massachusetts.Exactly where has intrigued me since then.On a fall morning, fellow explorer Tony Costello of Pittsfield and I joined Charles Flint of Lenox and Bill Patriquin of Berkshire Village to visit one of the local historic glass sand quarries in the Berkshire Town of Washington that provided sand for Sandwich Glass.This particular quarry site, according to Flint, local historian, antiques aficionado and dealer, took him and geologist educator Ed Kirby five trips to locate.We parked just past Ashley Lake on Washington Mountain Road at the Appalachian Tfail turn off, 4.5 miles from Burgner’s Market. We walked a gravel road westerly for some distance, turning left onto Ashley Lake Road. Without a guide, directions would take the entire space allotted this account, so if your curiosity is roused, contact the Lenox Historical Society next spring. Flint may lead a tour for the general public.Eventually we came upon a large center chimney cellar hole and barn foundations with traces of smaller foundations indicating that a small community was needed to supply and maintain the glass sand quarry. Workers from blacksmiths to carpenters, farmers to cooks, animal handlers to quar-rymen all found employment at the mountain top community.Patriquin, a stain glass artist andQUARRY, continued on 08
Newspaper Details
The Berkshire Eagle
Pittsfield, Massachusetts, US
Thu, Dec 23, 2010
Page 28
Full Page
Clipped by
Lenox L.
MA, USA 24 Aug 2023
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