CAM Talk: Don’t Take it for “Granite”—The Intriguing Story of Butter, Stone and the Economics of Cape Ann’s Granite Industry, by Les Bartlett

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Saturday, November 8, 2025
3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Janet & William Ellery James Center, CAM Green
13 Poplar Street, Gloucester, MA 01930
Free for CAM members, $10 for Non-Members.
Registration is required as space is limited.

How was butter connected to the quarrying of stone? Learn this and more about the social history and economics of the Cape Ann Granite Industry.

Leslie Bartlett is originally from Epsom, NH; he has lived on Cape Ann for nearly 50 years. His fine art photography of granite quarries on Cape Ann was featured in the main gallery of the Cape Ann Museum -October 2007 through January 2008. From Cape Ann he travelled to Barre, VT in 2008 and created a master project based on the lives of the granite sculptors from the 19th century through the 20th century. “Give Me Your Hands – the Legacy of the Barre Stone Sculptors and Their Stone” received a primary featured installation at Michigan State University Law School in 2011. His research on the lives of the stone workers throughout NE forms the basis for his forthcoming title: “BREAK Stone, Water, Heart, the Culture of Cape Ann Granite.” Now in 2025, EKKLESIA—a 9 foot by 30 foot image from a quarry wall in Rockport—has found permanent installation occupying 3 floors at the Sawyer Free Library, titled ‘Cape Ann Quarry Mural Wall.’

Image Credit: Alfred J. Wiggin (1823-1888), Knowlton’s Corner, Rockport, c. 1840s, oil on canvas. Collection of the Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, MA. Gift of the estate of Thomas and Nadia Williams, 2024 [2024.046].