Kids & Family

Then And Now: The Quarry That Turned To Bones

In the coming weeks, Lynnfield Patch will run photos from the archives of the Lynnfield Historical Commission and compare them with present-day shots.

Thanks to the Lynnfield Historical Commission for allowing me to scan these images from their photo files. Once a week, this website will post a new one.

To kick things off, let's take a look at a particularly storied part of Lynnfield - the former Kallenberg Quarry which is now home to the unique and which was brought to the attention of the general public several years ago in the "Weird Massachusetts" book.

This vintage picture shows a rare glimpse of the actual Kallenberg Quarry - something that many Lynnfielders today know only by word of mouth or by one or two old signs up at the Bow Ridge Reservation. It really helps put into context how much the trees and brush have reclaimed that area over the years - and it's also interesting seeing the original quarry wall many decades before the mural was painted there. Other photo galleries on this website have explored the surrounding forest as well as the other traces that remain of the quarry.

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On a side note, I went hiking in this area last fall with two longtime Lynnfield residents, Ruth McMahon and Carol Bartlett, and learned much more about this part of town. , purchased what was once called the Robin Rock quarry around 1896, renamed it after himself, and ran it until he died in 1913. The land was in her family until 1965 and has been town conservation land since. 

Moving forward - I've got enough vintage photos scanned here to get this feature off to a good start. But that said, I want to emphasize that readers are always welcome to email me their vintage photos of long-ago Lynnfield for use as a Then And Now feature.

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