The Vermont Danby quarry is the largest underground marble quarry in the world. The quarry is entered through the same opening that has been in use for over 100 years. From the outside of Dorset Mountain, the quarry looks the same as it did a century ago.
The quarry entrance into Dorset Mountain looks the same as it did a century ago, but while the square-cut mining adit is the same entry used in 1903, Danby Quarry has grown considerably since then. Today, the quarry covers 25 acres, capable of producing up to 4,000 square feet of marble slabs per day, a total of roughly 200,000 cubic feet per year. The largest blocks removed from the quarry so far have weighed up to an impressive 93 tons.
Also located within Dorset Mountain is the onsite production facility, which itself is one of the largest such facilities in the United States. Here, the marble is cut and shaped into blocks and slabs, ready for immediate export to projects across the globe.
The quarry encompasses various layers of marble with different characteristics, allowing the operator, Vermont Quarries Corporation, to extract 10 different types of marble. Olympian Danby, for example, is quarried on the top floor, while Imperial and Eureka come from deeper inside. The various types of marble have different veining, which determines the price. Royal Danby is the most common and therefore the most affordable. Imperial Danby, meanwhile, is the rarest and the most expensive.
Marble from Danby has been used in the construction of many famous buildings, including the U.S. Supreme Court Building, Jefferson Memorial, New York Public Library, the United Nations Building, the Sama Bank Building in Saudi Arabia, and the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.
According to www.atlasobscura.com. Source of photos: internet
