‘Encroaching on each side’

Babson Farm granite quarry, Halibut Point State Park, in Rockport, on Cape Ann.

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“{Cape Ann} is a singular region. If a little orchard plot is seen, here and there, it seems rescued by some chance from being grown over with granite….The granite rises straight behind a house, encroaches on each side, and overhangs the roof, leaving space only for only a sprinkling of grass about the door, for a red shrub or two to wave from a crevice, and a drip of water to flow down among gay weeds.’’

— Harriet Martineau (1802-1876), English writer and sociol0gist