Our plan for Tuesday was to visit the New Street quarry in Paterson, New Jersey which was about a 37 mile drive to the east from the campground. Our friend and guide for the day, David Bernstein, was to meet us at the upper quarry whenever he could get there that morning. It took about 10 minutes to drive about 5 miles south from the campground to I-80 and another 1-1/2 hours to make the final 32 miles as the bumper to bumper traffic jammed the highway. Since Paterson is essentially a suburb of New York City, negotiating eastbound weekday morning traffic is always a struggle as we found out that morning by only averaging about 20 miles per hour.

According to Mindat.org, the New Street quarry was worked for basalt traprock between 1893 and 1925. "Traprock" refers to any number of dark-colored igneous rocks that are crushed and used primarily for road construction. When basalt cools, it naturally forms vertical fractures, resulting in 4, 6 or 8 sided columns. Geologists call this type of formation columnar basalt. Horizontal fractures also form in the basalt. As these blocks weather they typically fall into piles that resemble steps. Because they look like giant steps or stairs, these basalt piles were given the name trap from the Swedish word trappa (which is related to the Danish word trappe and the German word treppe) all of which mean stairs. Also, when lava is extruded beneath an ocean or lake, it can form a distinctive round structures called pillows, as was the case with the basalt at the New Street Quarry. Long after the rock solidified, a wide assortment of minerals formed within interstitial spaces between the pillows, thus making the New Street quarry a renowned rockhounding location.

Over the past several decades, housing units have been constructed over a portion of the upper quarry, but much of it still remains accessible to hardworking rockhounds.

Upper New Street quarry entrance Paterson, New Jersey

Chrissy & Opal

Looking east from upper quarry entrance

Looking southeast from near upper quarry entrance

Trail to middle level looking southwest

Chrissy on trail to middle level looking northeast

View of Paterson to the northwest from middle level

View to south of middle level

Middle level pit

Banging a basalt pillow

Chrissy in middle level pit northwest view

We owe David Bernstein a debt of gratitude for his willingness to share his goodwill and time by coming out to show us the ropes during our two days spent at New Street. This was the first time we had met David in person and hope to have the good fortune to spend many more days hanging out with him in the future.

David Bernstein & Opal

By the end of the first day, we had moved a ton of rock and dirt and recovered a bunch of nice specimens.