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https://youtu.be/r5G0oeEUkiI

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Some history: In the mid-1890s Charles Pickard found an outcrop of reddish sandstone on his farm. In 1898 the Pickard quarry opened and began quarrying the stone for buildings. The quarry incorporated as the Sackville Freestone Company three years later. Starting in 1899, stone from the Pickard quarry was used to construct buildings on the campus. This marked the beginning of a close relationship between the university and the quarry. The quarry was described in the trade journal The Canadian Architect and Builder: “The stone extends through 15 to 20 acres of Mr. Pickard’s farm at a depth of 3 to 15 feet below the surface. The beds which lie in a horizontal position are from 4 to 9 feet thick . . . The stone is a rich shade of light or reddish brown, which combines nicely with brick and will give a building a bright clean appearance. The stone has been pronounced first class in quality.”

The quarry had 25 employees and produced 5,000 to 8,000 tons of stone annually. Buildings constructed out of stone from the Pickard quarry in Sackville are:

1. The original Royal Bank (some of the original pink stone remains at the left of the entrance).
2. The Bank of Montreal, Moncton.
3. The Royal Observatory, Ottawa.
4. The Bank of Nova Scotia, Truro.
5. Carnegie Library, Saint John.
6. Legislative Building, Toronto.
7. Customs House, Waterloo.