Bluestone, a deep-blue-colored sandstone first found in…
1840 CE to 1851 CE
Bluestone, a deep-blue-colored sandstone first found in Ulster County, was discovered by Silas Brainard, who recognized its industrial potential and began to quarry it, marking the start of the bluestone industry in Ulster County and shipment up and down the Hudson to New York and other ports.
The local bluestone industry is well-established by 1850 with quarries in Sawkill, Hurley, and other parts of Ulster County and shipments from Wilbur on the Rondout Creek and Malden on the Hudson.
The center for the shipment of bluestone to lay the sidewalks of New York City is Wilbur (aka Twaalfskill), a hamlet upstream from Rondout, where the Twaalfskill Creek meets the Rondout Creek; there is a sloop landing here.
Ten thousand years ago, humans in the area had encountered bluestone and begins to shape it into arrowheads, vessels, or other useful tools.
The local bluestone industry is well-established by 1850 with quarries in Sawkill, Hurley, and other parts of Ulster County and shipments from Wilbur on the Rondout Creek and Malden on the Hudson.
The center for the shipment of bluestone to lay the sidewalks of New York City is Wilbur (aka Twaalfskill), a hamlet upstream from Rondout, where the Twaalfskill Creek meets the Rondout Creek; there is a sloop landing here.
Ten thousand years ago, humans in the area had encountered bluestone and begins to shape it into arrowheads, vessels, or other useful tools.
Natives and European settlers made chicken troughs, chimney caps, well covers, building blocks, walls and tombstones out of bluestone before its commercial possibilities began to be developed.