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Bequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie, 2023.17.59, Connecticut Museum of Culture and His…
Stone Entrance Wall, Smith Estate, Sound View
Bequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie, 2023.17.59, Connecticut Museum of Culture and History collection, Public Domain

Stone Entrance Wall, Smith Estate, Sound View

Date1917
MediumPhotography; nitrate negatives
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (2023.17.59 overall height x width): 4 1/8 × 4 7/8in. (10.5 × 12.4cm)
Primary Dimensions (2023.17.60 overall height x width): 4 3/16 × 4 15/16in. (10.6 × 12.5cm)
Primary Dimensions (2023.17.61 overall height x width): 3 3/4 × 4 15/16in. (9.5 × 12.5cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineBequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie
DescriptionBlack and white photographic negatives of the stone entrance wall of the Smith Estate at Sound View, near Stamford, 1917.

(.59) View of a partially constructed granite block wall with the stern of schooner TOM BEATTIE and trees in the background.

(.60-.61) View of completed granite block wall with house in background.
Object number2023.17.59-.61
CopyrightPublic Domain
Inscribed(.59-.61) Typed on envelope: “Entrance wall for / Smith residence at Stamford, Conn. / Set up at the east quarry spring 1917 / Carried to creek west of Stamford by / AMERICAN EAGLE and carried on wagons to / entrance. Schr. JOHN S. GILMORE built a / retaining wall there and dredged mud from / the creek in front of the wall and filled / back of it. / 4 polished granite spheres were set on / tops of the gate and emd [sic] pilasters.”NotesSubject Note: John Beattie's granite quarry, situated in Guilford on the Long Island Sound, was well-positioned to distribute granite via a fleet of schooners to locations in Connecticut and New York. Notably, granite from Beattie's quarry was used in the pedestal at the base of the Statue of Liberty.

The quarry operated from 1869, when Scottish immigrant Beattie purchased 400 acres of land on Leetes Island, until about 1918, when Beattie's sons closed up shop 20 years after his death. At its height, the quarry employed 700 people, many of them immigrants from Scotland, Ireland, England, Finland, Sweden, and Italy.
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