North Carolina Granite Corporation Quarry Complex is a historic

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

quarry A quarry is a type of open-pit mine in which dimension stone, rock, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, gravel, or slate is excavated from the ground. The operation of quarries is regulated in some jurisdictions to reduce their envi ...

and national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from c ...

located at Mount Airy,

Surry County, North Carolina Surry County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 71,359. Its county seat is Dobson, and its largest city is Mount Airy. Surry county comprises the Mount Airy, NC Micropolitan St ...

. The district encompasses 22 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, and 8 contributing structures in an area approximately one mile long and 1/3 mile wide. Notable contributing resources include the cutting shed (1927), the office building (1928), and a building originally used as a blacksmith shop. It is the world's largest open faced granite quarry. Granite from the quarry was used to build the

United States Bullion Depository The United States Bullion Depository, often known as Fort Knox, is a fortified vault building located next to the United States Army post of Fort Knox, Kentucky. It is operated by the United States Department of the Treasury. The vault is used ...

at Fort Knox, the

Arlington Memorial Bridge The Arlington Memorial Bridge is a Neoclassical masonry, steel, and stone arch bridge with a central bascule (or drawbridge) that crosses the Potomac River at Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. First proposed in 1886, the bridg ...

in Washington, the

Wright Brothers National Memorial Wright Brothers National Memorial, located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, commemorates the first successful, sustained, powered flights in a heavier-than-air machine. From 1900 to 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright came here from Dayton, Oh ...

at Kitty Hawk, and the

Albert Einstein Memorial The Albert Einstein Memorial is a monumental bronze statue by sculptor Robert Berks, depicting Albert Einstein seated with manuscript papers in hand. It is located in central Washington, D.C., United States, in a grove of trees at the southwes ...

in Washington. It was added to 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 1980.

References

Quarries in the United States Industrial buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in North Carolina Buildings and structures in Surry County, North Carolina National Register of Historic Places in Surry County, North Carolina Mount Airy, North Carolina {{SurryCountyNC-NRHP-stub