There are those who say the bedrock of Portland, Connecticut built New York City.
"The Brownstone Quarries of Portland" is a special presentation on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the Hubbard Room at Russell Library, Middletown, Conn.
Wesleyan students will talk about quarries after researching and interviewing Portland residents.
Brownstone row houses that are the well-known face of New York and Boston. They were built from rock quarried in Portland.
Stone was used as far away as San Francisco and London. Dinosaur tracks and other geological features were found in some layers of the rocks.
The quarries remained productive until the 1930s, when flooding from the Connecticut River breached the operations and made quarrying unprofitable.
The quarries are operating again, and the site also currently features a water park and dive center.
In 2000, the quarries were listed as a National Historic Landmark and were placed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The event is co-sponsored by Russell Library and Wesleyan University.
