ENTRY HALL: Marble panels on the wall are from Vermont quarries. Danby (various white marbles) and Rochester (Verde Antique) quarries are still active. Champlain Black “marble” is a fossiliferous limestone quarried in Isle LaMotte. The quarry and reef are preserved by the Isle LaMotte Preservation Trust—worth a road trip!
HALL OF PRESIDENTS: The Hall represents a multi-decade project by master sculptor, Renzo Palmerini. Notice the plaque about Renzo to the left of the entrance to the Hall, and his sculpture, Wind, to the right. The reliefs are carved from Danby White and Vermont Statuary White marble from West Rutland (you’ll see a slab of this marble in #12). Back to Renzo’s mastery: see that no matter from what angle you look at the reliefs, the face does not distort? Also notice his skill in carving hair. Your favorite??
TOMB OF THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER: The fascinating story of how Vermont Marble workers quarried the 56 ton block from Marble, Colorado, transported it by train to Proctor, finished and partially carved the Tomb in Proctor, and then shipped it to Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, D.C. to finish the Tomb in 1931. Marble from this quarry was also used in the Lincoln Memorial!
UNITED NATIONS OF PROCTOR STUDENTS’ EXHIBIT: This exhibit educates the visitors on Immigrants who came to the United States to work for Vermont Marble Company. This exhibit explains about their struggles and accomplishments during the years at the company. It includes a panel about Lewis Hine child labor photographs.
VT MARBLE COMPANY NATIONAL CEMETERY HEADSTONES: A major product of VT Marble Company was headstones from National Cemeteries. You see examples here from various conflicts. The U.S. Government had very strict specifications for marble purity. Around Vermont, including in our outside entryway, you will see reject headstones used for steps, walls, and terraces.
MARBLE CHAPEL: Built in 1934, the Chapel features many varieties of Vermont Marble that are no longer quarried. The Last Supper bas-relief was carved by Italian sculptor F. Tonelli in Proctor in the 1950s. Replicas of the Last Supper were commissioned by Churches all over the United States.
CARVER WITH THE TORN APRON INSTALLATION: This is a 2022 exhibit by Anne Tait that shows the process of hand drawing a design, creating a blueprint, and carving headstones and funerary monuments. The title is adopted from the beautiful photograph of a carver, from the Marble Museum’s collection of glass plate negatives.
GEOLOGICAL/HISTORICAL DISPLAY: This room has a fault…really, a stone section of a Vermont fault subject of plate tectonics. Remember the Champlain Black fossiliferous sample in the entryway? In this room there is an excellent example full of fossils. What’s cool is that these fossils are of one of the earth’s oldest reefs…and it used to be in Zimbabwe! Look to your left below the fossil-filled marble slab. That black and white piece of stone is plate tectonics, where one plate overran another. Geologists from all over the world come to Vermont to see this fault line. And the black stone? Well, that holds Champlain Black Marble (actually it’s limestone). This exhibit has a list of marble quarries, their color of marble, and where they are located. Cool!
ALLEN’S STUDIO: Our resident stone carver, Allen Dwight, has retired, but a few of his sculptors are in the museum. We miss him and hope to have a sculptor again!
BATHROOMS: Even they have marble! Verde Antique…very rich!
VERMONT MARBLE OFFICE: Original office furniture and equipment circa 1870, which includes the original punch clock and the camera that took many of our collection of 2,000 glass plate negatives. Later in the summer this space will be a conservation lab where we will be digitizing our glass negatives, and you can watch!
MARBLES OF THE WORLD: Welcome to more than 100 stone slabs from around the world, displayed in large panels. Originally developed as a showroom for architects and clients, it’s just plain beautiful for marble lovers. Note the book matched marble samples. “Book-matchedmarbleis one of the truest ways to showcase the natural beauty of the stone and can become a statement piece of art.” Architectural Digest.
PLASTER MODEL GALLERY: The beautiful display of plasters with the blue wall background includes original plaster models that were used as part of the sculpting process. The sculptor’s process was to create a clay model (see the picture of Andrew Jackson in clay?) and from that a marble cast—a mold to make a plaster model—and the dots which were used to measure the dimensions and features into the marble finished piece. A couple of things in this exhibit…first, though, look out at the supreme court mock-up (#14). That was a VMC project in DC. Now inside the plaster gallery, see the carvings of the columns and capitals? Those were for the Supreme Court building! And the picture of the young carver? That’s Lorenzo. See the paper bag hat? That was the traditional hat for a marble carver. Who knew?!
US SUPREME COURT MOCK-UP: Created for the architect of the U.S. Capitol between 1932 and 1934, prior to building the Courthouse in Washington D.C. The marble used was Vermont Danby Imperial White, Vermont Verdoso, and Dark Rutland.
MARBLE KITCHEN AND BATHROOM: These represent the near-end of the monumental dimension marble business—finding new uses and markets for marble.
MOCK-UP FOR YALE’S BEINECKE LIBRARY: Built in 1963, sheathed in translucent Vermont marble panels, an inch and a quarter thick, in a Vierendeel truss of steel clad in granite. The marble panels absorb and diffusing the exterior light in warm hues on the interior.
GIFT SHOP: The Vermont Marble Museum is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Every purchase, admission ticket, and donation allows us to open the museum. Thank you!!
