The rock is striking in its stolid presence, reassuring in its promise of ageless stability. It rims the shore. Indeed, it is the shore, uniquely able to confront the surging Atlantic on elemental terms. It is the essence of granitic, obdurate implacability.  It was drilled, quarried, cut, and fractured for a wide range of East Coast uses, from heaviest construction to city pavers.  It is never out of view in Rockport, whether it is in minor but ubiquitous locations such fences, curbs, thresholds and lintels, or in Rockport's ambitious but never-finished seawall a mile offshore.     

This Rockport vista displays the full range of rock forms: granitic boulders, dollopers twice the size of big cannon balls, and slabs.  Its shapes range from organic arcs to sharp-edged plates.

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Sharp-edged slabs descend into the Atlantic, lapping, at this moment, calmly and placidly.

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Fracture lines, striations, and layers add texture to the slabs.  EF4A4510 EF4A4511

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These dollopers are the size of big pumpkins.
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Fractured rock is stacked as if left over, a rock jigsaw puzzle.  EF4A5901
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It also appears in more organic shapes, providing cormorants a harbor-side perch to dry their wings after a hard rain, and mimicking a friendly sperm whale.

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The former quarries, including this in-town site, are now vast water-filled pits, some 60 feet deep.

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The Halibut Point quarry complex is now parkland.  The swimming prohibition is often ignored. 

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Drill holes on an unused left over.

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Rock harvesting began in the 1840s at Halibut Point.  The rock is estimated to be 440 millions years old.  Harvesting ended at the Halibut Point quarry in 1929.  During World War II, a 60-foot fire control tower was built to assist aiming coastal batteries defending the Boston and Plymouth harbors.  The tower is just visible in the center of the last picture.