When posting on internet forums, I refrain from revealing identifying information; been my policy for years. But in this case, I'm going to make an exception. When I'm browsing photos here, or anywhere, I find myself thinking, I wonder where that is. I know the curiosity exists . . . so here goes: The photos featured in this thread were taken just outside Bloomington, Indiana, home of Indiana University, my alma mater. The quarries were (and still are) officially named after the family that owns the property and operates the stone cutting business but generations of skinny-dippers called them the Packinghouse Quarries after the meat packing plant (now defunct) alongside the gravel lane leading to the quarry gate.
Quarry culture runs deep in this town. During the early decades of the 20th century, the limestone industry was the largest employer in the region and supported thousands of families. In older core neighborhoods, sidewalks are paved with, not concrete, but limestone slabs. And most of them have survived 100 years without need for repair.
The 1979 motion picture Breaking Away was filmed here and many scenes were shot the Sanders quarries, six miles south of town. Because of the movie, the term 'Cutter,' meaning townie, became a household word. The film was shot during September and October of 1978, my freshman year. I was in one of the crowd scenes, where the Cutters were accepting the trophy for winning the Little 500 bicycle race. Maybe that's why I'm destined for life of obscurity; my 15 seconds of fame came and went.
And quarry culture runs deep at the university as well. Most of the buildings on campus are constructed of limestone locally cut, milled and carved. Limestone statuary abounds on campus and the School of Fine Arts offers a course on limestone sculpture.
Nowhere else on campus is the quarry culture more visible than in the athletic department. Memorial stadium is better known as The Quarry. Just outside the varsity locker room sits a large limestone rock. When the football players emerge on game day, as they run past, each and every one of them slaps The Rock, honoring tradition and also, I believe, symbolically gaining from the stone the hardness they need to vanquish their foe on the gridiron. In the first photo, in the lower left, the mural on the stadium wall is reminiscent of the eastern slag pile at Sundown Quarry.
On the web, an IU sports blog is called The Crimson Quarry. (IU's school colors are cream & crimson) I feel absolutely certain that many of the middle-aged alumni bloggers skinny-dipped in the Packinghouse quarries in the 70s during their undergraduate years. I would bet on it. For them, and myself as well, those days of naked fun under the summer sun will live forever in pleasant memories.
The second photo is taken from the 1961 Arbutus, the Indiana University yearbook. Apparently, skinny-dipping hadn't yet taken root, but even back then, IU students were swimming at Long Hole.
So, you see, quarries aren't just places to extract quality building stone and swim in the holes after they're abandoned. Quarries are a defining thread in the fabric of our community.
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I spent so much time at the Packinghouse quarries that I became casually acquainted with many of its denizens. Mocha, a townie, spent more time at the quarries than I did. That's saying a lot! During the summers he practically lived there in his Econoline van. Despite his gruff exterior, he was a mild-mannered flower child. He never went nude; always wore a loincloth.
This series was shot at Full moon Quarry on the wide ledge visible on the right in the first photo of post #6. Mocha is with two townie friends, Carla, blonde, lying down, and Leslie, dark hair. Shirley, sandy hair, was an IU student.
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