granite shed

i was wandering around central vermont last week and i was at a geocache called a true granite shed, and it was a sufficiently interesting location to tell you about it here.

there's a historical sign at the location that explains that this little building was a temporary storage shed for the explosives used in granite quarrying. apparently the idea was to make the storage shed walls out of granite and the roof of wood so that if (when) there was an accidental explosion of the stored EXPLOSIVES, the granite walls would absorb blast force and the roof would blow up, directing the blast (more) safely upward instead of out.

today it just sits by a roadside, by a trail that's maintained by the millstone trail association.

besides being cool in its own right, just in front of the shed is a strange little warm spot. i was there on a morning well below zero and just in front of the shed was a little patch of scrub ground with mist wafting up from it, and when i looked closer, there were LIQUID WATER DROPLETS clinging to green moss.

this effect was puzzling and the frost flowers on the overhanging grass were very beautiful.

i did not see what thing out of sight could have been causing this thermal anomaly. i am not aware of any geothermal activity in central vermont.

weird.