Seneca Creek Sandstone: Its History and Use as a Building Stone

Seneca Stone Cutting Mill Photos Summer 2005

Sandstone Workings - MHS Paper

Seneca Creek Quarry - History of its Operations

Seneca Stone Cutting Mill

National Register of Historic Places Inventory

Seneca Stone Cutting Mill Photos

Seneca Creek Quarry - History of its Operations

The quarrying of the sandstone was initiated in the 1780s when George Washington began a project to open the Potomac River to navigation. The Potomac Company was organized and Washington served as its first president. By the mid 1780s the company had begun to build canals to skirt around several falls of the Potomac. This included building a series of five locks around Great Falls, Virginia using the Seneca Creek sandstone. The amount of tolls received from this venture was less than the debt incurred during the construction of the system, and the Potomac Company ceased to exist (Douglas and Jones 1968, 44).

A second attempt to open the Potomac for navigation occurred in 1828 when John Quincy Adams initiated construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. The durability and proximity of the stone as proven in the first attempt, made the Seneca sandstone a desirable choice. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal proved to be more successful than the Potomac Company's venture, and operated until 1924 (Douglas and Jones 1968, 44). The C & 0 Canal eventually failed economically due to the success of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. Coincidentally, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and the C & O Canal broke ground for construction the same day.

The quarry complex was made up of the Seneca Sandstone Quarries, the stone cutting mill, the turning and loading basin, and the quarry master's house. Little is known about the early quarrying operation.

A map drawn of the area in 1830 documenting the existing buildings during a land sale did not include the stone cutting mill or quarry master's house. It was at this time that the land changed hands and the quarry operation was then run by the new owner, John Peter, great grandson of Martha Washington.

It was probably during this decade that the house and mill were constructed. The mill was constructed of the Seneca sandstone in rough finished rectangular blocks. At some point the mill was doubled in size to its present dimensions. The exterior walls of the mill remain but are in a state of ruin. The timber roof, which originally covered the structure, is gone, as are all the windows and doors.

The quarry master's house is a two and a half story structure also constructed of the sandstone but is laid in regular courses. This structure was built on a hill overlooking the quarry. Today this house has been rehabilitated and is being used as a residence. Unlike the rest of the quarry complex, which is on state owned land, the house is now on private property.

The stone was quarried by hand and brought to the stone cutting mill in mule-drawn gondolas over a narrow gauge railroad track (Cutchin 1978, 16). The blocks of stone were cut, smoothed, and polished using machinery that was powered from a diversionary stream of water from the canal. The quarry paid the C & 0 Canal for use of the water. In 1833, the quarry signed a contract with the Canal Company for 1,250 inches of water at fifty cents per inch per annum. In 1893, the quarry paid $833.33 for the use of waterpower from the canal (National Register Nomination 1972, 8). The power for the cutting process was furnished by a water turbine. Shaft belts were attached to overhead pulleys, which transferred power to the cutting and polishing machines (Cutchin 1978, 16).

Peter died in 1848 and the quarry operation changed hands. During the second half of the 19th century, several companies worked the quarries including the Seneca Sandstone Quarry (1850-1867), the Redstone Company (1867-1874), and the Potomac Red Sandstone Company (1883-1900; formerly the Redstone Company) (Cutchin 1978, 23).

The most profitable year for the quarrying of this area was 1871 when 850,000 tons of stone were transported by the canal. A study of the Seneca Census Records was completed showing that in 1870 the greatest number of men were listed as quarry workers. Their titles included laborer in quarry, laborer in stone mill, quarry boss, and stonemason. After 1870 there was a steady decrease in the number of men listing the quarry as their place of employment (Cutchin 1978, 23).

The 1897 Geological Survey of Maryland confirmed that the most extensive quarries of the s and stone from the Triassic belt were located near the Potomac, near the mouth of Seneca Creek. This survey also made mention of several smaller quarries located further north that were used for local purposes. Here again, the attributes of the stone were given as its great strength, durability, ease with which it was able to be worked, and its beautiful colors. It was described as "one the best Triassic sandstones" (Maryland Geological Survey 1897, 212).

By 1900 the quality of the stone had decreased and the use of the canal was on the decline. There was also less of a demand for highly colored stone (Cutchin 1978, 24). This essentially marked the end of the use of Seneca Creek sandstone as a building material with the exception of some very small quarries that supplied a limited amount of material to the local community.

[Pages 10-14 of the presentation "Seneca Creek Sandstone: Its History and Use as a Building Stone" presented by

Kristin Fetzer
Conservation Seminar: Masonry
Professor Frank G. Matero
Historic Preservation Program
University of Pennysylvania
5 March 1997]
 

[Editor's Note: This information is from the archives at the Montgomery County Historical Society Library and used with their very kind permission.]

 

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