What Are These Peculiar Hash Marks on Granite Slabs in Maine?

The granite industry goes back a couple hundred years in Maine.

Deer Isle granite is one of the most sought after stones in the rock business. It's used for any number of things. It's a popular stone for countertops, especially here in Maine. You'll often see it by the side of the road. Some places even use it as actual curbstone. It's extremely versatile.

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But in general, granite is everywhere in this state. It's essentially the bedrock that Maine sits on. If you go to Acadia National Park, you'll see it everywhere. Not just in the wild, but on the sides of the road, as the guard rails. You'll see it as steps. It's used to make the breakwaters around various spots that need it.

One out-of-stater couldn't help but wonder what the markings were all over it.

Some things are obvious to some people, but not always others. It's easy to take certain kinds of information for granite.. I mean, granted. But this person wondered why there were "hash marks" all over the slabs where they were. It looks like they were likely at the ocean somewhere, and saw these:

Hash marks on rocks?
byu/k_davver inMaine

There's a good chance you know exactly what these are... They are left from drilling holes into the granite to either blow slabs apart, or to drill in deeper to use tools to split it manually. But in most quarries, a certain amount of blasting is done to release larger pieces of stone from the rock face.

Maine still has several active granite quarries.

There are still spots in Wells, and Hancock County that are still active. It just has so many uses. Although, Maine's hay-day for granite cutting was over a hundred years ago. But like I said above, it's in your homes, it's on the side of the road, it's leading you up to things on stairs... It has unending uses.

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Sure, when a lot of us look at these big slabs, it may seem obvious to us what those marks are. But chances are, once upon a time, you may have looked at them and asked someone else the same question. What's obvious to you, isn't always obvious to everyone else. But hey... maybe you learned something new today. Maybe not...

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