The Ketchin Quarry property, a four acre parcel on Quarry Road, has a significant place in Simsbury history. The path from the small parking area on the side of Quarry Road leads visitors to a steep rock face from which brownstone, a type of sandstone, was quarried. Town records show that by the early 1800’s, some Simsbury residents were cutting stone from the quarry for their own use, as fireplace lintels, foundations and fencing.
In 1897, Andrew J. Ketchin and his son William, two members of a family that included a number of skilled stone carvers, bought the quarry. They developed it into a commercial operation. Stone from the quarry was used to build a number of prominent buildings in town. These include the current Town Hall (formerly the Horace Belden School dating from1909) and the Methodist Church on Hopmeadow Street, the original part of Central School, the original part of the Tariffville Firehouse and many of the buildings of the Ensign-Bickford Company, now merged with Dyno Nobel ASA.
In 1925, A. J. Ketchin and Son sold the quarry to the Ensign-Bickford Company. The transaction included the quarry, three derricks for moving stone, and scores of stoneworking tools. Ensign-Bickford used the quarry as a source of stone for its factory buildings for a number of years. The company generously gave the site to Simsbury Land Trust in 1994. Today signs along the path at the Quarry tell the story of its geological origins and of its place in Simsbury history.
It is interesting that Connecticut was the site of numerous brownstone quarries at the turn of the 20th century and was known as “The Brownstone State”. Connecticut brownstone was used in buildings throughout the Eastern United States and was even shipped to San Francisco and London. There is little historical documentation for the Ketchin Quarry in Simsbury, but we do know that the buildings of Ketchin Quarry stone help define the character of our town center.
 Download PDF of Trail Signs (2.5 mb)
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