Another source of information is at the Library of Virginia. The granite outcrops in the James River at Richmond were a source of building stone, also used in Washington, DC for "official buildings". It is my understanding that the VA State Penitentiary hired out folks to make small rocks out of bigger ones. Literally the entire bedrock of the James River in downtown Richmond for over a mile was quarried. There are stepped quarries over 30' deep in the middle of the river that were accessed by diversion dams to allow extraction. Bill Trout's "Falls of the James Atlas" touches the surface of this extensive effort. Undoubtedly there are several graduate degrees awaiting in these records.

Lyle Browning, RPA


On Feb 26, 2013, at 4:33 PM, George Miller wrote:

> Adam,
> 
> 
> 
> Your best chance for prices on quarried stone may be find some account
> books or invoices from quarries or building contractors.  The Winterthur
> Library Downs Archives has one of the best-indexed sets of primary
> documents that I have had the pleasure of working with.  I have seen copies
> of contracts for the building of structures in the Downs Archives.  My
> experience in searching newspapers is that they rarely have price
> information.
> 
> 
> 
> Prices on other things like wheat and price cycles can be found in a number
> of published sources.  During the Great Depression the Rockefellers
> provided funding for building price series for a number of cities around
> the world in an attempt to understand price cycles and depressions.  David
> Hackett Fischer’s book *The Great Wave: Price Revolutions and the Rhythm of
> History* is a wonderful introduction to this subject.  It is very readable
> and has 15 appendices that are as readable as the book.  The bibliography
> is an excellent research guide to the literature.  It was published in 1996
> by Oxford University Press.
> 
> 
> 
> Anne Bezanson, Robert D. Gray and Miriam Hussey have written up Price
> history of Pennsylvania.  The first of their volumes is titled *Prices in
> Colonial Pennsylvania* that was published by the University of Pennsylvania
> Press in 1935.  I do not have the title of the volume that extended the
> price series into the National period.
> 
> 
> 
> Arthur Harrison Cole’s book *Wholesale Commodity Prices in the United
> States 1700-1861* has price summaries for a number of cities.  Harvard
> University Press published it in 1938 and reprinted by Johnson Reprint
> Corporation in 1969.
> 
> 
> 
> There are many studies on the cost of living that you can find using a
> Google Book search or other sources.
> 
> 
> 
> Historical archaeologists need to spend more time reading economic history.
> 
> 
> 
> Peace,
> 
> George L. Miller
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Tue, Feb 26, 2013 at 8:31 AM, [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> 
>> Hey Adam,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  I am sure you probably thought about this, but look at town minutes for
>> townships established around that period. You could also search for 18th to
>> early 19th century advertisements in some of the newspapers at the NYPL. I
>> think they have a colonial papers collection there.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Hope this is helpful.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Scott Wieczorek, RPA
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Sent from Windows Mail
>> 
>> 
>> From: adam heinrich
>> Sent: February 26, 2013 8:25 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: stone costs and the revolutionary war
>> 
>> 
>> Hi Histarch community,
>> I am wondering if there are any resources that might discuss the costs of
>> quarried stone during and after the Revolution in regards to the heavy
>> rebuilding needed during recovery.  I am particularly interested in the
>> NJ-Hudson River region (famous for the brown sandstone), but other later
>> 18th century contexts would be interesting.  There is stuff out there for
>> consumable goods such as wheat and other foods which was in high demand due
>> to supporting the armies and destruction from occupation.
>> 
>> Thank you, Adam Heinrich
>>