Green Mountain RR GP-9R 804 leads our train through a photo runby at the Jones Brothers Granite Company property, now the Vermont Granite Museum of Barre. Photo by Vic Campbell

Granite City Extra

Through the trees near MP 4.6 we could just make out the old Central Vermont right-of-way and its through-truss bridge over the Stevens Branch of the Winooski River as our route transitioned to the old M&WR trackage. We're told that the CV bridge is to be used for a hiking trail; with the exception of a short section in downtown Barre, all CV track south of here was lifted decades ago.

At around MP 6.2 we stopped for a photo runby at a rather unremarkable paved roadway, the northern entry point to the old Jones Brothers Granite Company property. The real piece-de-resistance, however, was a quarter-mile farther to the south, where the Jones Brothers factory building, once billed as the "world's largest granite manufacturing plant", is being refurbished with great interest and support from the community as the "Vermont Granite Museum of Barre." Major reconstruction has been completed and the interior displays are being developed. Patricia Meriam, acting Executive Director of the non-profit VGMB, was aboard our train to provide a narration of the museum's activities. The museum, which focuses on the traditional methods of the granite industry (in contrast to the Rock of Ages visitor center "up the hill" in Graniteville, which emphasizes more modem technology), is expected to open later this season.