Fletcher Granite Company - Westford, MA
Posted by: 
NorStar
N 42° 37.661 W 071° 24.920
19T E 301940 N 4722299
The Fletcher Granite quarry in Westford provides many kinds of landscaping and building products made with a grey granite that has many flecks of mica.
Waymark Code: WM7BQC
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 10/01/2009
Views: 14
On the Westford-Chelmsford line on Groton Road/Route 40, is the main office and one of the quarries for the Fletcher Granite Company. The main entrance is just west of the intersection of MA Route 40 and US 3.
The facilities are on both sides of the road. To the left is the cutting and finishing mill. To the right is the road to the main offices, sales area, and the quarry.
The quarry itself is not visible from the road, or from the sales office up the road. I was on a specially arranged tour of the facilities with an industrial group. There is a page on the company web site that does offer tours, which is here:
(
visit link)
If you can't arrange a tour, you can view the pictures on the web site.
The rock quarried at this location is called Chelmsford Grey, which is a type of granite. Personal inspection revealed that it is a pretty uniformly colored stone with significant amounts mica in it.
The company has been in existence for over 130 years and started in the Chelmsford area. By the early 1800s granite was taken from Chelmsford, near the present quarry, and used in building many famous landmarks, including Quincy Market in Boston. In the 1880s several partnerships were formed and dissolved with Fletcher family members until the H. E. Fletcher was formed about 1908. The company has continues to today and owns several quarries in the United States.
The company has been innovative from the start, inventing better ways to cut stone. Currently, it is implementing a new method to cut the stone using several diamond saw wires.
Web Site of Fletcher Granite:
(
visit link)