Farmington Drive construction site, Shrewsbury, Worcester County, Massachusetts, USAi

Regional Level Types
Farmington Drive construction site	Construction Site
Shrewsbury	Town
Worcester County	County
Massachusetts	State
USA	Country

There are collectable crystals to be found in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, that appear to have formed in matrix and also in voids. In a brief time period in 1995 this author had finds on the new road construction at Farmington Drive, at the upper end, 30 meters south of side street, under the road middle. Road builder blasting of the ledge at these places turned up ilmenite, epidote, and specular hematite. The hematite crystals were never terminated due to cramped spaces but did pocket form since they were all separated by air gaps and formed in as very thin 10 to 100 nanometers each. Many were deep red and see through indicating extreme thinness. Under a loop, the red 'flashes' quite a lot all over on some hand specimens. The road was for a housing development. Ledge was removed to 3 meters deep by drill and blast for water service and storm drains. The sites are paved over or grassed over now and closed to collectors.

I picked up curious pieces laying near the site from blasting after the workers left and put them in the car and went home to identify them. Geoff Thayer was good enough to notify me to go to Farmington Drive at the right time. The site was at the top of the hill past the left turn to Rockaway Street and it looked like the band of mineral trended the same as the road direction but only a 10 meter length grabbed my interest for its red feldspar in grey schist. This Farmington Drive site also had a loose 24 cm long boulder with a "slick" on one side, perfect sized for carting away and display. It has the fault-mashed green epidote and dark red feldspar all across one whole side 24 cm x 14 cm wide on this 11 cm thick rock. The slick had grooves that were all parallel, undulating 2 mm with the largest groove 10mm wide. The geology map of this area of Massachusetts does not show a fault but there are several other faults on the map from 1 to 5 miles away so they are not unknown.

The ilmenite are found in a dark red feldspar matrix and fully formed double terminated single crystals 8mm long with 6 sloping sides and flat ended. The typical high shine of the flat end contrasts with the flat grey of the slope sides. They are 14 sided in total and stubby. Six have been found and put on display but my 50 pounds of material from the pails have not been thoroughly checked. 19 Jan 2013

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