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Booth's Quarry Town Park
Vinalhaven’s Public Quarries: Booth’s and Lawson’s
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Booth's Quarry and Lawson's Quarry offer a distinctive way to encounter Vinalhaven's stoneworking landscape. Both former granite quarries are town-owned public recreation places, identified in Vinalhaven Land Trust's town-parks guide. They are separate stops: Booth's lies east of the village by Booth's Quarry Road, while Lawson's is reached along North Haven Road. Choose one for an unhurried visit or compare the two if your island transportation and time allow.
The contrast with an ordinary shoreline beach is part of their interest. Here, the shape of the water's edge reflects an excavated landscape, with rock replacing a long stretch of sand. The land trust describes both as spring-filled quarry basins. Take time to look from shore before deciding what you want to do. The visible rock, surrounding vegetation, and enclosed water can make the industrial past feel present even during a purely recreational stop.
The town's Park Commission gives visitors a direct role in caring for these places. Its current reminders prohibit soap and pets, require carrying out belongings and rubbish, and ask people to rinse flotation equipment to limit the spread of algae and invasive growth. These instructions are practical parts of sharing a small body of water. Follow current posted conditions and entry guidance, and choose activity according to your own ability rather than another visitor's enthusiasm.
Sandy Lang's original 2018 Maine magazine account recalls reaching Booth's during an island visit with photographer Peter Frank Edwards. After cycling and exploring, she paused at the quarry and took time to decide whether to enter the cool water. Her account makes the stop a sensory change within the day: movement along island roads gave way to a close encounter with stone and water. The memory is personal, and its descriptions of other people's jumps are not instructions to imitate them.
There is something useful in that pause before committing to an activity. You can enjoy a place while remaining on land, or let present conditions determine a different plan from the one imagined in advance. Lang's story belongs to a particular end-of-summer visit. Use it to understand the appeal of the setting, while relying on the town for present rules and the site itself for the conditions you actually find.
A different original account comes from Lockie H, reviewing Lawson's after an October 2025 visit. The reviewer first spent time quietly beside the water, talked with another visitor, and later returned with a swimsuit. The account also noticed two approaches and preferred the one farther from passing traffic. Its strongest suggestion is about attention: even a short visit can change character when you linger instead of treating the first view as the whole experience.
The Park Commission's 2022 annual report shows that recreation here also depends on continuing oversight. Commissioners described water testing during that summer and the problem of broken glass around the quarries. Those historical results do not establish today's water conditions, but the report explains why careful use matters. Leave the rocks and water as free of litter as you found them, so the next person's first impression is of the quarry landscape rather than the remains of someone else's outing.
Before you go
- Follow current quarry notices: no pets or soap, and carry everything out.
- Rinse flotation equipment before use to help limit algae and invasive growth.
Visitor perspectives
- Sandy Lang reached Booth’s during an island cycling visit and paused before entering its cool water.
- Lockie H lingered quietly at Lawson’s, talked with another swimmer, and returned later with a swimsuit.
Capture
- From a permitted shore position, show how the rock defines the quarry basin.
- Keep the people in your frame aware of the photograph, especially around changing and swimming areas.
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Social
Booth’s and Lawson’s are two town-owned former granite quarries on Vinalhaven.
The Park Commission asks visitors to protect the water through simple, specific rules.
A magazine writer remembers pausing at Booth’s during an island cycling day.
One October visitor found reasons to linger at Lawson’s before returning later.
A historical town report reveals the continuing work behind quarry recreation.
A place can be enjoyed from shore as well as through an activity.
What does the shape of a basin reveal about the land’s earlier use?
Give a short stop enough time to become its own experience.
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