Halibut Point State Park, Salem
About Halibut Point State Park
History
The granite that makes up Halibut Point is estimated to be 440 million years old. It was quarried here as early as 1840. The scale of operations grew when the Babson Farm quarry was acquired by the Rockport Granite Company. Those operations ended with the collapse of the Cape Ann granite industry in 1929. Halibut Point Reservation was created when the Trustees of Reservations acquired a parcel on the east side of the quarry in 1934. In the last years of World War II, the remaining quarry area saw new usage with the construction of a 60-foot (18 m) fire control tower that was intended to assist in aiming the coastal weapons defending the harbors at Boston and Plymouth. In 1981, the state purchased 56 acres (23 ha) of land, resulting in the creation of Halibut State Park.