Investigation of Sheriff Stuart’s black granite quarries in Charlotte County, southwestern New Brunswick: implications for the source of the titanic headstones in Halifax, Nova Scotia

Abstract

Robert Albert Stuart, the High Sheriff of Charlotte County, deserves credit for establishing the black granite monument industry in New Brunswick. In the late 19th to early 20th centuries, he opened three quarries in mafic plutonic rocks in the vicinity of the Chickahominy Mountain, north of St. Andrews: the Bocabec black granite quarry (1893), the Steen Lake black granite quarry (1895), and the Glenelg porphyry quarry (1906). Much of the information in brief articles in local newspapers lacks sufficient detail to gain a full understanding of the historical development of these quarries. To obtain a clearer timeline for production of stone from the quarries, the rock type in each was examined and compared to black granite monuments in nearby cemeteries known to be sourced from these specific quarries. Previous investigations did not entirely rule out the possibility that the Stuart quarries may have been a source for the headstones placed in the Fairview Lawn Cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, to mark the graves of some of those who were lost when the Titanic sank in 1912. Our detailed analysis of rock textures and production histories leads us to conclude that none of the Stuart quarries could have been a source for the Titanic headstones and supports the previous assessment that they came from Charles Hanson quarry.