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Exploring the Tantiusques Mines

by Bill Dusty

A couple of months back, we came upon this old mining site in Sturbridge, MA, while out on a Geocaching expedition. As it turns out, the site has quite a bit of history behind it.

These are the Tantiusques Mines (“tan-tas-qua”). They were first mined by the local Native Americans here at the time, the Nipmucs. The site was purchased by John Winthrop, Jr., the son of the first Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, in the year 1644. Several different minerals were extracted from the site, including graphite (first mined by the Nipmuc) and lead. Mining operations continued into the beginning of the Twentieth Century.

The site is currently on the rolls of the National Register of Historic Places, and sports an information kiosk, maintained trails, and the remains of several “open trench” mines (no ceilings) and one subterranean mine, which, according to this website, was the last mine excavated, in 1902.

Below is a photo of a map located in the information kiosk at the parking area of the mines. In the reflection, one can see my girlfriend, Donna (center), her daughter, Devin (left) – who we practically had to drag out of the house to join us! – and myself (at right, barely visible as I snap the shot).

Below are a few photos of the site as well as two five-minute videos.

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Originally reluctant to go on the trip, Devin got more interested after discovering she could actually enter the excavations…

I thought this was a pretty cool sight – a couple of trees growing out of the outcroppings of rocks at the top of the mines. Notice that both trees have “Y” separations at the base of their trunks.

For more images, click here.

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Below are two videos of the Tantiusques Mines.
More on the history of the mines can be found here.

The Tantiusques Mines – Part One

The Tantiusques Mines – Part Two

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Posted by Bill Dusty on Jun 3rd, 2008 and filed under Cities & Towns, Society. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.