Vermont Vacation & Family Staycation

Your Adventure Begins with a Rock of Ages Guided Quarry and Factory Tour

The 2024 Tour Season Officially Kicks-off, Monday, April 28th 2024

Visitors Center & Gift Shop

Your Rock of Ages tour experience typically begins at our modern Visitors Center. Here you can reserve your guided caravan tour ticket, enjoy a video about the quarrying and manufacturing processes in our unique round theater, browse historic photos and exhibits, shop for natural stone gifts and enjoy warm Vermont hospitality.

Interesting fact! In 1962, Rock of Ages built a 2,800-square-foot Visitors Center to accommodate the growing tourism rate. By 1967, more than 100,000 visitors were coming to Barre each year to view the quarries and Craftsman Center. On May 1st, 2004, Rock of Ages opened a new 5,000-square-foot building that houses a new Visitors Center and a Memorial Design Studio.

Opens April 28th

Guided quarry tour

The guided quarry tour takes you to an overlook of the E.L. Smith Quarry. At nearly 600 feet deep, it is the largest operating deep-hole, dimension granite quarry in the world. A one-of-a-kind tour experience, not to be missed while visiting Vermont.

The tour is approximately 50 minutes in length and typically runs rain or shine. The quarry tour is ‘caravan style’ that begins at the Visitors Center, and the tour guide leads guests to the quarry observation site in their own vehicles.

The quarry access road is not recommended for RVs or vehicles towing trailers – in these instances please call in advance to make arrangements. The quarry access road is also not recommended for motorcyclists.

We recommend arriving 15 – 30 minutes in advance of your tour as there are displays at the Visitors Center that add to the quarry tour experience.

The Rock of Ages E.L. Smith quarry is an active working quarry and is only accessible to the public via the quarry tour.

For group and school visits, please contact: Visitors Center Group Tours, 802-476-3119.

Self-guided factory tour

Experiencing a 160,000 square-foot factory from an observation deck is not to be missed. The factory is an exercise in contrasts, combining the new with the old. You can see artisans using hand tools in much the same way as Michelangelo did centuries ago. These little-changed, artistic endeavors are mingled with computer-guided, diamond-tipped saws and precision grinders.

FREE ADMISSION

Outdoor granite
bowling lane

Developed as a prototype for use in commercial lanes, our granite bowling lane has delighted millions of visitors since 1958. Because a traditional bowling ball will eventually break when striking the hard granite lane, the concept never took off. That is why you will not see granite on the lanes of your hometown bowling alley. But the rubber balls we provide will offer you and your family a free, fun-filled experience during your Rock of Ages visit.

FREE ACTIVITY

Direct from the quarry

A spectacular promotional video has been produced in Smith Quarry, showcasing the natural seams in the rock that run horizontally and the deep opaque turquoise water. The purity of Barre’s granite in contrast with the spectacular voice of an opera singer is just breathtaking.

Watch the Video