Lime Rock, Lincoln, Providence County, Rhode Island, USAi

Regional Level Types
Lime Rock	Village
Lincoln	Town
Providence County	County
Rhode Island	State
USA	Country

This page is currently not sponsored. Click here to sponsor this page.

PhotosMapsSearchMineralogy

Lime Rock is a village in the town of Lincoln. The heart of the community is located at approximately 41.929 North latitude, 71.45 East longitude. The village was a part of the town of Smithfield until it was incorporated in the newly established town of Lincoln in 1871. Many museum specimens from Lime Rock still bear Smithfield labels and many old references still cause confusion to researchers not familiar with the history of the area. The Harris and Conklin quarries are situated at the junction of Old Louisquisset Pike and Wilbur Road while the Dexter quarry is on Dexter Rock Road. The Harris "jointer rock quarry" is on the west side of Old Louisquisset Pike and the Harris "middle quarry" abuts the north side Wilbur road along with the remains of its lime kiln. The Conklin Quarry (formerly the Harris "south quarry") is just south of Wilbur Road. Numerous other pits are found scattered in the area especially in the northern part of Lincoln Woods State Park. All the quarries are now flooded or filled, but permission can be filed in advance to collect on the spoil piles of the Conklin Quarry.

The earliest records of quarrying and burning lime at Lime Rock are confusing and often contradictory. The first mention of interest in the area was on January 27, 1662 where the Providence Early Records read; “________ as Hackleton making his request unto the Towne _________ have liberty to burn lime upon the Comon neere about ________ and to take stones and wood for the same purpose ________ by vote that he may have libertye until ________ next and no longer.” In 1665 an order was filed in the Providence Early Records that the “lime rockes about Hackleton’s lime kiln shall be ppetually common” and by 1672 Gregory Dexter deeded the land around the kiln to his son on the provision that it remain in common to the people of Providence (Rider, 1904).

By the early 1800s the quarries were at their peak and lime was being sold from Boston south to the West Indies (Sullins, 1974). C.T. Jackson, the state geologist, reported that the Smithfield kilns could produce over 500 casks (a cask = 240-300 lbs) of calcined lime per week. He noted that high magnesia content of the dolomitic marble was held in very high regard by masons because of its quick setting and bright white coloration (Jackson, 1840).

Quarrying and burning lime, along with building casks and transportation, were extremely labor intensive. The introduction of Portland cement, which could be made much more cheaply, probably caused the decline of the lime industry at Lime Rock in the late 1800s. Operations at the quarries had ceased by the early 1940s and the quarries were flooded. In 1946, Ed Conklin reopened the southernmost of the Harris quarries as the Conklin Limestone Company, producing marble chips and agricultural lime. The quarry operated until 2004 when space ran out and the quarry was allowed to flood. The company still operates at the quarry site as a landscape supply center.

Commodity List

This is a list of exploitable or exploited mineral commodities recorded from this region.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

74 valid minerals.

Rock Types Recorded

Rock list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities