“Iceberg” at Narrows Island
DateMarch 1905
MediumPhotography; nitrate negatives
DimensionsPrimary Dimensions (overall height x width): 4 7/8 × 3 7/8in. (12.4 × 9.8cm)
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineBequest from the Estate of Elizabeth Beattie
DescriptionBlack and white photographic negative, view of the “iceberg” at the back of Narrows Island, Leetes Island, March 1905. A large, naturally formed block of ice floats in the water with Narrows Island in the background.
Object number2023.17.63
CopyrightPublic Domain
InscribedTyped on envelope: “File NARROWS / ISLAND. / “ICEBERG” back of NARROWS ISLAND / Leete Island Conn. / March 1905 / 1904- ’05 was a hard winter and the / east and west harbors froze early / Storms broke the ice up and pushed it / up in the coves, There it froze / layer upon layer, This piece floated / out of east cove and landed on the / flats back of the east end of / Narrows Island. It was about 10’ thick / and left a deep hole in the mud flats.”Handwritten in black pen below typed description: “On the hill beyond is the / light house”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.
On View
Not on view
c. 1905-1910
1905-1906
1890-1905
1890-1905
1890-1918
