The Robertson Quarry
In the 1800s, the Robertson Quarry was one of many quarries in Stafford County which provided stone for government buildings, private homes, and public buildings, not only in Washington, D.C., but across the nation. The Robertson Quarry, along with the quarries on Government Island, contributed the stone for the United States Capitol. In 1818, the area was known as the Towson Quarry.
Both slave and white laborers worked in the Quarry. They loaded the heavy Aquia sandstone into ox carts and hauled it to Coal Landing near Aquia Creek, where it was loaded onto ships and transported to Washington, D.C., and various construction sites.
The original oxen ruts can still be located 200 feet from the right of this historical marker, in the gully of Austin Run, before Gallery Place.
Marker is at the intersection of Austin Ridge Road and Tavern Road, on the right when traveling north on Austin Ridge Road.
Courtesy hmdb.org
