Civilian Conservation Corps Quarry (CCC Quarry; Smith Quarry; Turkey Hill quarry lot), Haddam, Middlesex Co., Connecticut, USA

Latitude & Longitude (WGS84):	41° 27' 30'' North , 72° 30' 52'' West
Latitude & Longitude (decimal):	41.4583333333, -72.5144444444

This 19th century feldspar quarry is situated in a granite pegmatite near the former Civilian Conservation Corps’ (CCC) Camp Filley barracks (built 1933) on Filley Road, at its intersection with Turkey Hill Road, in the Beaver Meadow District of Haddam. NOTE: The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a government make-work program during the Great Depression. CCC recruits were put to work on all manner of public works projects from roads to roadside springs, foresting tasks and campgrounds, etc.

The pegmatite quarry situated immediately SW of the former CCC barracks appears abandoned and slightly overgrown (gray-toned) on the earliest available (1934) aerial photographs, when the camp was just completed. So it doesn’t appear to have been quarried by the CCC. Research by Ed Force indicates that it was operated by Horace and Daniel Smith. In 1803, their father had bought land from the Heber Brainerd estate (on land west of Turkey Hill Road). The sons bought it in 1829 and after Daniel died, Horace sold what had become known as the Horace and Daniel Smith Quarry (or the Turkey Hill Quarry Lot) to Samuel Arnold II. When quarrying stopped is uncertain.

Williams (circa 1945) refers to it as "the Feldspar quarry on Turkey Hill Road" or just "the Feldspar quarry", mentioning that is is "close to the C.C.C. Camp" and near the "parting paths", which must be the 5-way intersection where Beaver Meadow and Turkey Hill Roads, plus 2 other roads, meet. He mentions "Microcline, Beryl in fine crystals; Aquamarine, Uraninite, Autonite [sic], Muscovite" and "Biotite in large masses" at this quarry.

Other than this brief mention, the information here comes from collecting trips in the last 20 years of so. The absence of large dumps suggests they were used as fill somewhere. Minerals found recently in the quarry are limited to the common pegmatite minerals microcline, albite, quartz, muscovite, annite, and schorl.

Collecting is allowed ONLY during permit dates issued by the State of Connecticut Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection to educational groups (mineral clubs, schools, etc.). See their web site link below for details.

Mineral List

9 valid minerals.

References

External Links