Tour de granite
Millstone Trails opening new touring center
Toolbox
By David Delcore
TIMES ARGUS STAFF - Published: June 25, 2009
BARRE TOWN – Pierre Couture plans to turn a 120-year-old building that was once the hub of a thriving industrial community into the home base for what he hopes will one day be a premiere central Vermont tourist attraction.
He's well on his way.
This weekend, Couture, the man and the muscle behind the Millstone Trails Association, will throw open the doors to a newly renovated "touring center" that is strategically located on a network of recreation trails currently at 70 miles and counting.
For Couture, who over the course of the past 20 years bought, sold, inherited, restored and most recently renovated a building that housed one of the first general stores in Barre Town, his latest project represents a necessary step to growing a burgeoning business that began back in 2005. That's when Couture opened the still-expanding trail network on 1,500 acres of land that includes plenty of challenging terrain, some breathtaking views and dozens of historic quarry sites.
"I really do think this is what will get us to the next level," Couture said of the touring center, which will be open seven days a week, enabling him to cater to what has been a steadily growing demand for use of the trails – particularly among out-of-state cyclists.
"We've been doubling our bike business every year," he said of what has, until now, been a weekend-only operation run out of a barn in nearby East Barre.
"We finally reached a tipping point," he said.
Couture, who fancies the new touring center becoming a granite cousin to such maple magnets as the Morse Farm and Bragg Farm in East Montpelier, said he couldn't have picked a better building.
One of Barre Town's first two general stores, it was once home to the local post office, a railroad depot, and served as the town's first official municipal offices due largely to the fact that one of its earliest proprietors – Eugene Nurney – also served for a time as town manager in the early 1900s.
"Since the beginning I felt this building ought to be saved because of its history," he said. "It's a wonderful old building and it needed to be alive again."
It should be just that starting Saturday.
"We're ready to let the people in," he said of the two-day grand opening that will start with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting on Saturday morning, feature cut-rate use and guided tours of the trail network and conclude with a benefit dinner that will be held Sunday at the Lodge at Millstone Hill in East Barre.
"There's going to be a lot going on," said Couture, who is hoping local residents take the opportunity to get out on the trails and check out the new touring center.
With the exception of a second-floor apartment, Couture is putting every inch of the old general store to use. And, while it was still a work-in-progress Wednesday it is clear that it will be much more than a place to sell trail passes and rent and repair bicycles.
Couture, who has long been interested in Barre's storied granite industry, has set aside three rooms where the Vermont Granite Museum of Barre is creating an annex to provide visitors with some sense of the business that put Barre on the map.
Using a collection of photographs, tools, a timeline and other artifacts, museum organizers hope to put the explosion and subsequent contraction of the granite industry into perspective.
Couture knows the story well and he tells it with passion, describing how what started out as three granite quarries in 1850 ballooned to 74 following the arrival of the railroad in 1875.
"One hundred years ago it was a very different Millstone Hill," he said. "It was like this beehive, with 3,000 men all chipping away at the hill."
By 1920, only five quarries were still in operation, but Couture, who grew up on an East Barre dairy farm, said he's intimately familiar with the remnants of the rest.
"I spent my childhood in these quarries," he recalled. "I fished in them, I swam in them, I played in them … I thought every kid had a quarry in their backyard."
It wasn't until Couture was much older that he came to appreciate how unique his backyard really was.
"To me these old quarries are like the great pyramids of Egypt," he said. "I don't see this as an industrial wasteland … It's beautiful and it needs to be preserved."
In addition to the museum exhibit, and a bike rental and repair booth, Couture has converted the vault that dates back to the days the building doubled as the municipal offices into a gallery space for a collaborative of local artists and has created factory outlet spaces for several Vermont businesses.
Vermont Butter and Cheese, Vermont Smoke and Cure, Highland Sugarworks and Vermont Flannel Company are among the businesses that will have items for sale on a regular basis.
Meanwhile, Couture, who toyed with installing a full-service deli, said he will be working with stock sandwiches from Bag Ladies Express, in addition to coffee and drinks and ice cream, for those who drop by. The deli may yet be added, but for the time being, he said, he wants to get the touring center up and running, continue expanding the trail network and work on persuading local residents to take advantage of it.
"That's been the challenge," he said. "The people who know the least about us are the people that live right here in Barre."
For a complete list of activities planned this weekend, go to www.millstonetrails.com. To make reservations for Sunday's dinner, call Couture at 479-1000.
37