Sandstone Quarry Seneca Fig 2 Plate XXVIII WBClark 1898

Seneca Quarry is a historic site located at Seneca, Montgomery County,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. It is located along the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, abbreviated as the C&O Canal and occasionally called the "Grand Old Ditch," operated from 1831 until 1924 along the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Maryland. It replaced the Potomac Canal, ...

on the north bank of the

Potomac River The Potomac River () drains the Mid-Atlantic United States, flowing from the Potomac Highlands into Chesapeake Bay. It is long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map. Retrieved Augus ...

, just west of Seneca Creek. The quarry was the source of stone for two Potomac River canals: the

Patowmack Canal The Patowmack Canal, sometimes called the Potomac Canal, is a series of five inoperative canals located in Maryland and Virginia, United States, that was designed to bypass rapids in the Potomac River upstream of the present Washington, D.C., are ...

(opened in 1802, and officially known as the Great Falls Skirting Canal) on the Virginia side of

Great Falls Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

; and the C&O Canal, having supplied red

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

for the latter for

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

9, 11, 15 - 27, and 30, the accompanying lock houses, and Aqueduct No. 1, better known as

Seneca Aqueduct Seneca Aqueduct — or Aqueduct No. 1 — is a naviduct that carries the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal (C&O) over Seneca Creek in Montgomery County, Maryland. The C&O built eleven aqueducts along its length. Seneca Aqueduct is a unique structure, not ...

, constructed from 1828 to 1833. Seneca red sandstone, also known as redstone, formed during the late Triassic age, 230 to 210 million years ago. The current geological name is Poolesville Member of Manassas Sandstone. Iron oxide gives the sandstone its rust color. It was prized for its ease of cutting, durability and bright color. The stone quarried here for the

Smithsonian Castle The Smithsonian Institution Building, located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C. behind the National Museum of African Art and the Sackler Gallery, houses the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center. The ...

was originally described as "lilac grey" in color when quarried," but turned rusty red as it weathered. Numerous quarries operated on the one-mile stretch of the Potomac River west of Seneca Creek. The C&O Canal provided a way for the heavy sandstone to reach the Washington, D.C. market, and the quarry's success is attributed to the canal. The Peter family of Georgetown, which built

Tudor Place Tudor Place is a Federal-style mansion in Washington, D.C. that was originally the home of Thomas Peter and his wife, Martha Parke Custis Peter, a granddaughter of Martha Washington. The property, comprising one city block on the crest of Geor ...

, owned the quarry from 1781 until 1866. John P.C. Peter, a great-grandson of Martha Washington, made the quarry into a commercial success by utilizing the C&O and winning the bid to supply red sandstone for the

, constructed 1847-1855. Peter built the stonecutting mill, drawing power from the adjacent canal turning basin. He also built a miniature of Tudor Place near the quarry called Montevideo, now owned by the

Kiplinger Kiplinger ( ) is an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice which is a subsidiary of Future plc. Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., was a closely held company managed for more than nine decades by three generations ...

family. Seneca Quarry provided the stone for hundreds of buildings around the Washington, DC area, including houses in the Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan area, the

James Renwick Jr. James Renwick Jr. (born November 11, 1818, Bloomingdale, in Upper Manhattan, New York City – June 23, 1895, New York City) was an American architect in the 19th century. ''The Encyclopedia of American Architecture'' calls him "one of the most ...

-designed Trinity Episcopal Church (1849; demolished 1936),

Luther Place Memorial Church Luther Place Memorial Church is a congregation belonging to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. The neo-Gothic church building in Thomas Circle in Washington, D.C., was designed by architects Judson York, J. C. Harkness, and Henry Davi ...

(1873), and the D.C. Jail in the 1870s.

Montgomery C. Meigs Montgomery Cunningham Meigs (; May 3, 1816 – January 2, 1892) was a career United States Army officer and civil engineer, who served as Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War. Meigs strongly opposed sece ...

purchased the Government Quarry nearby for the

Washington Aqueduct The Washington Aqueduct is an aqueduct that provides the public water supply system serving Washington, D.C., and parts of its suburbs, using water from the Potomac River. One of the first major aqueduct projects in the United States, the Aqueduc ...

project in the 1850s, and that quarry provided stone for the parapet of the

Union Arch Bridge The Union Arch Bridge, also called the "Cabin John Bridge", is a historic masonry structure in Cabin John, Maryland. It was designed as part of the Washington Aqueduct. The bridge construction began in 1857 and was completed in 1864. The roadw ...

, better known as the "Cabin John Bridge," the Washington Aqueduct Dam at Great Falls,

McClellan Gate The McClellan Gate (sometimes known as the McClellan Arch) is a memorial to Major General George B. McClellan located inside Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. Constructed about 1871 on Arlington Rid ...

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

, as well as the mile-long boundary wall that surrounds the cemetery. After the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, the Seneca Sandstone Company purchased the quarry in 1866, expanding the stonecutting mill in 1868, but went bankrupt in 1876 after financial mismanagement, sometimes referred to as the "Seneca Stone Ring Scandal." It was closed for seven years. In 1883, the Potomac Red Sandstone Company reopened the quarry but only operated until 1889, when the

Great Flood of 1889 The Johnstown Flood (locally, the Great Flood of 1889) occurred on Friday, May 31, 1889, after the catastrophic failure of the South Fork Dam, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River, upstream of the town of Johnstown, Pennsylv ...

knocked out the C&O Canal for two years. Baltimore quarry operator George Mann purchased the Seneca quarry in 1891 and operated it for the next decade. By 1901, quarrying operations had stopped as the quality of the rock diminished and

Victorian architecture Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

was no longer in vogue. The Seneca Schoolhouse, a small one-room schoolhouse of red sandstone, was built in 1866 to educate the children of the stone cutters who worked at the quarry. Located in

Poolesville, Maryland Poolesville is a U.S. town in the western portion of Montgomery County, Maryland. The population was 5,742 at the 2020 United States Census. It is surrounded by (but is technically not part of) the Montgomery County Agricultural Reserve, and is ...

, it provides tours to schoolchildren so that they can experience a typical school day as it would have been on March 13, 1880. Seneca Quarry is now overgrown with

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the ancient Greek ' (''sūkomoros'') meaning "fig-mulberry". Species of trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplata ...

trees, tulip poplars, and dense brush such as wild rose, such that it is impenetrable much of the year. It is best visited in winter. The property includes ruins of the stonecutting mill, located at "the Junction of Seneca Creek and the C&O Canal, just NW of the aqueduct" and the restored quarry master's house, located within

Seneca Creek State Park Seneca Creek State Park is a public recreation area encompassing more than along 14 miles of Seneca Creek in its run to the Potomac River in Montgomery County, Maryland. The park features facilities for boating and fishing as well as trails f ...

. The quarry proper, Seneca Aqueduct, and the quarry cemetery are all part of the

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park is located in the District of Columbia and the state of Maryland. The park was established in 1961 as a National Monument by President Dwight D. Eisenhower to preserve the neglected remains of ...

. The quarry falls within the boundaries of the Seneca Historic District. Seneca Quarry was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1973.

References

External links

*, including photo in 1997, at Maryland Historical Trust website * *WAMU 88.5 FM Metro Connection
"From Stone to Bright Red Structure: A Tour of the Seneca Quarry,"
March 30, 2012. *
Seneca red sandstone
in the National Park Service's ''National Building Stone Database'' Seneca Quarry articles, including National Register nomination
---> {{Authority control Quarries in the United States Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Maryland Buildings and structures in Montgomery County, Maryland Historic American Buildings Survey in Maryland National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Maryland