The Quarryman's Museum
The Quarryman’s Museum was constructed by Harvey Fite first as a utilitarian structure, a garage where he could house his trucks, including his trusty Jeep and an old fire engine that he bought from Bard College in the early 1950s. The fire engine’s primary use had been to serve as a pumping mechanism to clean out the pools in and around the quarry, but it was also quite a popular fixture of the Labor Day parades and other events in High Woods (even helping put out a few fires).
While constructing the garage, Fite decided to add a second story that would serve as a museum to house his collection of quarrymen’s tools and artifacts, as a way to honor the men who toiled in the quarries before him. He presented them in a playful way, both to show their use, and to showcase the craftsmanship of their creators. The museum’s aim was to celebrate all aspects of the quarryman’s life: stoneworker, blacksmith, agriculturalist. A quarryman’s life was never just one thing, he contained multitudes.