This site where Native Americans quarried something from sandstone is located on private property in western Alabama in Lamar County near Beaverton and Guin, north of US 278 and near the Marion County line. In the late 1920's my maternal grandfather, Rev. John M. Shores and Guy Gilmer were on a hunting trip and found the quarry.
In the fall 1966 and spring 1967 two trips were made to the site by the authors of the article below, my dad Amos J. Wright, Jr. and Bart Henson, as well as Rev. Shores, my mom Carolyn Shores Wright, Bart's wife Bettye, my younger brother Richard and yours truly. On one of those trips Emmett Cantrell, who had lived on the property as a boy, helped relocate the site, a sandstone outcropping that runs along a creek for several hundred yards.
The article by Dad and Bart appeared in the December 1968 issue of the Journal of Alabama Archaeology published by the Alabama Archaeological Society. I have reproduced most pages of the article here. They note that little had previously been written about Native American sandstone quarries. The discs resulting from this work may have been used for ceremonial purposes or shallow bowls. Cutting or drilling tools of jasper similar to those found at another site were in abundance at this one.
Conical holes were also found, but their use was unknown. The authors suggest the holes could have been used as part of the quarry work, used in ceremonial activities or in grinding of grain, seeds and/or nuts.
In one of our recent forays through family memorabilia, Richard and I found the photographs taken on December 16, 1966, and in May 1967 during the visits. I scanned some and have included them below as an addendum to the article.
