Marriottsville, Maryland: Soapstone Quarry

According to a map of the Marriottsville area (Freedom District) dated 1877, there existed a soapstone quarry along Marriottsville Road Number 2, just by the sharp bend near the turn to Arrington Road. My husband, two boys, and I went out there last winter to have a look around. It was very dangerous going. We parked in a little area just off Arrington Road, and carefully made our way across the street.

The first thing we noticed was an old wooden structure, or what was left of it. Only a few main timbers still appear above the ground. Based on a Land Survey Plat Book kept by Carroll County, the shack could be the remnants of a Steam Boiler House used by the Maryland Soapstone Company to run this quarry. There are many bushes back in there, most of which are covered in sharp spiny thorns. We were not appropriately dressed for the thorns, and we each were assaulted horribly by a thorn that just wouldn't let go during the hike.

It was also unstable ground back there, due to the water flowing throughout the brush and the ground having ruts you can't see for the tall grass. We climbed on top of a hill just behind the shack and could see deeper into the quarry from that view point. It was amazing how far back it went at one section. It was like a letter "u" carved into the rock. I was not adventurous enough to go into the "u." When we got closer to one wall of the quarry, we could clearly see tool marks in the stone. And some drill holes were still clearly visible, where they must have drilled into the stone to place the dynamite. There was also a clean rectangular slab of stone broken off and laying on the ground...left behind when they closed up the quarry, it seems.

According to the same article, there was also a flour mill that was later converted a paper mill in 1811 by John DeVries. John was a son of Christian Saib DeVries who came to America from Holland in 1803. Christian DeVries had three other sons: Christian DeVries, Jr., Henry Octavius DeVries, and William T. DeVries.