Obelisks, Granite Railway Incline - Quincy, MA - Photos Then and Now on Waymarking.com

In Quincy, at the northern edge of the Quincy Quarries portion of the Blue Hills Reservation, are a pair of obelisks that the Thomas Crane Library had a picture from about 1922 featuring them.

The location can be accessed from the parking lot off Ricciuti Drive, then walk through the quarry to a path down to the incline (buy/download a map and bring it along). Or, from I-93/Southeast Expressway, take the exit for the Furnace Brook Parkway, then go around the rotary to the exit just before going under the highway, then drive on the road parallel to the highway and bear right (if you go left you reenter the highway), then, at the end of the road, turn right onto Willard Street, then drive a short distance and take a left onto Bates Avenue, then go under the highway, then turn left onto OConnell Avenue, then turn left onto Mullins Avenue, then drive to the sharp turn in the road and the incline on the right.

The obelisks are about 12 - 14 ft tall. The photo from the library might lead you to believe that they were made of a light stone. However, my picture shows that they were made from a dark, grey granite, likely from stone that came from the quarry.

The positions of the point of view of the camera are similar - perhaps my shot is a bit further away. There are other differences:
- The plaques on the obelisks are bronze in the earlier picture, but stone in the recent picture.
- There is now a display of quarry tools at the base in the recent picture.
- The landscape is bare enough to see the hill (tailing pile?) in the background in the earlier picture, while the young trees block the view in the recent picture.
- There is a railroad track crossing in front in the earlier picture that is not present in the recent picture.

Link to Source of Image on Digital Commonwealth Site (Supplied by Thomas Crane Library):
(visit link)

Year photo was taken: 1922

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