The Town that Slate Built

 

There's an uncomfortable road sign that you see from every direction you enter the village of Granville: "Welcome to the Colored Slate Capital of the World." The first time I saw it, I did a triple take. In 2026, seeing that c-word, as innocent as it may have been in origin, induces a cringe.

While I have yet to delve deeply into the town's history, there's little doubt that its wealth was built on the mining and manufacturing of slate for roofs and other uses -- and Granville is most famous for its red slate. (As an aside, I played softball during the summer on a rough, badly-maintained field. When I got home, my clothes were always covered in bright-red clay.) Houses such as this one in the village's "downtown" surely belonged to the captains of the slate industry.

This is a beautiful example of Victorian architecture sprinkled with elements of Neoclassical (columns, Palladian windows) and the spectacular ironwork of the fence. Plus slate roofing, of course.

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