The Quarry at Grant Park is the most visited park in Winston-Salem (1). The park’s focal point is an abandoned rock quarry with around 175 feet of natural groundwater. An overlook pier extends over the side of the quarry and offers views of the waters and the city skyline in the distance. Other overlooks provide different perspectives on the old quarry.
History
Once known as the Piedmont Quarry, owned by Vulcan Materials Company, the property served as a rock quarry for gravel—much of the rock gravel produced underlays the streets in Winston-Salem. Vulcan quit mining in 1972 but continued using on-site deposits until the early 1980s, when they ceased operations. The quarry began to flood shortly after. In 1998, Vulcan donated the land to the city.
Today, you can still see parts of the road that corkscrews along the sides of the quarry that miners used to get to the bottom. Over the years, trees have grown along the road, making the winding path harder to visualize. Most of those trees have died due to flooding.
What is in the waters?
Quarry Park opened to the public in August of 2017, but people had been trespassing and checking it out for years. These trespassers likely dumped the different fish in the quarry waters, creating a unique ecosystem. The quarry has many kinds of fish, such as bream, bass, carp, and catfish.
In addition to fish, the quarry also has freshwater jellyfish, known as Craspedacusta sowerbyi. These jellyfish grow to be about the size of a quarter and don’t sting. According to experts at the U.S. Geological Survey, this freshwater jellyfish probably came to America with ornamental water plants, especially the water hyacinth, from its native region in China along the Yangtze River valley. They usually spread from one body of water to another through the transportation of birds when they get stuck in their feathers.
Before the park opened to the public, there was a rumor of an excavator sitting at the bottom. A rusted excavator shovel is on display at the park, but the origins are unclear.
One thing we do know is under the water is a car. In a scene from The Lesser Evil, a vehicle is pushed off a cliff and into the quarry’s water.
Rumors and Urban Legends
Word has it that the quarry inspired the Fleetwood Mac song “Hypnotized.”
I remember a talk about North Carolina
And a strange, strange pond
You see, the sides were like glass
In the thick of a forest without a road
According a thread on TripAdvisor, Fleetwood Mac once responded to an online question about the strange pond, “A guy that I used to work with from Winston-Salem told me the story of he and some friends riding dirt bikes 20 miles or so out in the woods when they came upon a strange “crater” in the ground with smooth sides like melted glass. It was a “pond” in the sense that there was some rainwater in it I guess.
There were no access roads or caterpillar tracks, so it wasn’t a construction site. The location must have been near Winston-Salem. They all immediately got the feeling they should get out of there. Maybe it was a meteor impact? I just liked the imagery for the song.”
We have learned about another urban legend through comments on the Living in Winston-Salem Instagram page. When RJR moved from its original building, the solid gold door to the safe, where they kept cash deposits, went missing. RJR launched an investigation for the missing gold door, drawing attention to the matter. As the story goes, the thief dumped the door in the quarry since it would be difficult to sell due to public knowledge. There is little to no evidence to qualify this tale, but it makes one wonder.
Visit The Quarry at Grant Park
📍 1790 Quarry Rd, Winston-Salem, NC 27107
On foot or bike, you can access the park on the Waughtown Connector Greenway, which runs to the Waughtown area on one end and the Peachtree Greenway on the other.
