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Ghostly trees and drowned shoreline can be seen in the foreshore of the lake in the old Piedmont Quarry off Reynolds Park Rd. Donated by Vulcan Materials to the city nearly twenty years ago, the site will soon begin its transformation into a city park.
Quarry Park
The old Piedmont Quarry has become a picture-perfect lake.
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Drowned trees in shallow water at the edge of the quarry lake indicate rising water levels in what is called "a granite bathtub" by Vulcan Materials spokesman Tom Carroll. A discarded foam cooler floats in the trees at left. "I wish folks who sneak in here would at least carry out their trash," laments Lomark Barren, a Senior Maintenance Mechanic with the city Recreation and Parks department, who looks after the closed quarry.
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Lomark Barren, of the Winston-Salem Recreation and Parks dept, right, stands on the spot where a Nova and Cadillac DeVille convertible were launched into space over the quarry for the low-budget film, "The Lesser Evil" in 1997.
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The dynamite-shattered granite walls of the former Piedmont Quarry are slowly being drowned by the rising water of what is now a 12-acre lake. According to the North Carolina Geological Survey, the quarry is part of the 460-million year old Milton terrane, a band of rock underlying most of Winston-Salem, that was once a chain of volcanic islands.
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Drowned trees in shallow water at the edge of the quarry lake indicate rising water levels in what is called "a granite bathtub" by Vulcan Materials spokesman Tom Carroll.
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A battered, rusting shell of a truck cab lies buried beneath a blanket of kudzu on the Piedmont Quarry property.
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Dead pine trees, drowned by the rising water in the old Piedmont Quarry, line the road that once wound onto the quarry floor.
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Debris from a car driven into the quarry for "The Lesser Evil" in 1997, seen at right, still clings to the quarry wall.
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The twisting rock walls of the old quarry reveal its past as a string of volcanic islands, 460-million years old.
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Twisted, rusting mining equipment is lost beneath a kudzu blanket on the old quarry property.
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Lomark Barren clears withered kudzu from the window of a rusting, abandoned truck cab.
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The gravel road leading to the quarry floor disappears at the water's edge.
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A shelf of mud-stained granite thrusts from the lip of the old quarry.
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The ghostly, drowned shoreline can be seen in the foreground of the lakes' clear waters.
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Shallow, rippling water distorts the reflections of drowned trees at the water's edge.
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The old road to the quarry floor ends at the water's edge.
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This 1957 Journal file photo by photographer Jim Keith shows the Piedmont Quarry in operation.
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This 1957 Journal file photo by photographer Jim Keith shows the Piedmont Quarry in operation. The rock overhang at far right can be seen today.
Winston-Salem's newest park is scheduled to open at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15. Click here for complete details.
