Tags
engineering, Hiking, HISTORY, nature, photography, Research, water history
While doing research for my book a few years ago, I came across reports that mentioned a quarry on the filtration plant property. I had even seen glass plate negatives showing the quarry with its mills. But for the life of me, I could not find it or figure out where on this 300 acres it was located.
This 1894 map shows the quarry in relation to Lake Montebello.
This photo taken in 1913 shows the quarry and mill.
Another view of the quarry.
And another.
In 2011 I was on a mission – to find the quarry. I started roaming around in the woods, in search of it. I was not able to roam too much though – the area was really overgrown. From atop a rock, I saw water.
So I climbed down to take a look. It was just too overgrown to make an accurate assessment as to whether or not this was it. I tried to match the rocks to the 1913 photos.
One of my bosses back then said that he remembered the quarry in the late 60s. That his father and others in the neighborhood use to dump stuff in there. He believed that the quarry was filled in back in the early 70s.
Then in 2013 the Federal Government said all the sewers in Baltimore needed improvement. A contractor went to the area and moved the sewer pipe out of Herring Run stream and into this area. In the process, clearing the area I was unable to get to before. Doesn’t look much like a quarry.
Another view.
The other day I went back down to see how it looked. Soon it will look like it did in 2011. In just 3 years it is becoming overgrown.
Another view.
The one good thing about my job – I get to hike thru areas like this!
My lucky day! A green Mushroom!
Water and Me 
Great old photos of the mill and quarry…have you posted them larger before? Would love to see them. When was the mill demolished? Love the photos of your explorations around Montebello. Must seem like you’re on another planet….remote and quiet (but steps away from civilization).
Hi Mike. The one I think I posted on FB a couple years ago. The other two I just found in the museum storage. The glass plates are in pretty bad shape. They are 8″x10″ and I scan them at 600-1200dpi, but to save space on here, I reduce them to about 1MB. I tried using the new posting format on here for this one post but found out that the magnify doesn’t work. So, with all that said, just download to your pc and you can enlarge that way. I am thinking the mill was demolished in the late 1920s. The engineer then wanted to clean it up and make it like a park. But that didn’t happen. (It is park property now) It seems like I’m on another planet when I walk thru the front door every morning!
Great post. I wasted way too much time looking up stuff about that mill and the quarry.
That can easily happen! An archaeology group is looking at mills along Herring Run, along Parkside. I wish they were searching the Halls Spring area instead.