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Oct 19, 2023

RI State House is made of iconic marble. Farm Fresh RI is selling some

When Farm Fresh RI purchased their 3-acre site at 10 Sims Ave. in 2017, they

When Farm Fresh RI purchased their 3-acre site at 10 Sims Ave. in 2017, they found something kind of strange when the soil testing started.

Marble. Lots and lots of marble.

There were pieces smaller than your fist all the way up to slabs of more than 3,000 pounds. There were pieces that looked like chips, and then there were pieces that had been carved into what seemed like pedestals with decorative ridges chiseled into the edges.

What all the pieces had in common was they were the same marble, sparkly white with just a bit of gray veining.

At first, the marble was a mystery, but one that Lucie Searle, real estate and community developer for Farm Fresh RI, was determined to unravel.

"We wanted to prove the provenance, you know?" Searle said. "So we had a historic preservationist and historian [look into it], and she said, ‘Lucie, I got it in one article.'"

Where Farm Fresh RI sits was once the Norcross Brothers' Stone Yard and Mill, where, as the Providence Journal of Commerce wrote in 1898, "all of the stone for the State House has been cut and shaped to fit every part of the grand structure."

For over 100 years, the soil held the offcuts, the bases of pillars that didn't quite work out, the bits that were chipped away. Between the location and the distinctive look of the marble, it was a match.

Volunteers went through, picking up every piece they could find, and it was put into the contract for construction of Farm Fresh RI's new headquarters that every piece with a diameter larger than 20 inches had to be saved. This was Rhode Island history.

They ended up with piles of marble.

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For a growing nonprofit, a find like this is nothing short of buried treasure. And if you’re a nonprofit and find treasure, you don't hoard it.

You put it on display, which Farm Fresh RI did by turning it into benches, landscaping focal points and public art around the building.

You can also sell it to support the programming. That's the next step for the hundreds of pieces that Farm Fresh RI is currently storing at the building next door – a three-day marble market on Friday, June 9, from 6 to 8 p.m.; Saturday, June 10, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, June 11, from noon to 4 p.m. at 50 Sims Ave.

A preview, with no sales, will be held Thursday, June 8, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"There's been a lot of excitement," Director of Giving Nikki Ayres said.

Artists have been interested in the marble, as have landscape architects who want to use some of the big pieces for benches. Ayres had two gentlemen come by who wanted to buy pieces for their friend, whose great-grandfather had worked as a stone carver on the State House project. And then regular people, too. Ayres thinks it will make a great Christmas gift.

Pricing the marble has been tricky. It's a one-of-a-kind piece of history and once it's gone, it's gone. But there aren't good comparisons to look at, and Ayres isn't sure whether it will all sell out, whether there will be pieces left over or what the interest will be.

The littlest pieces will be priced at $5 and the larger pieces will go all the way up to $700, Ayres said, depending on the size and if there's anything particularly interesting about the piece.

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They’ll also have a handful of pieces for sale that local artists have worked with, including marble carved into planters and pieces that artist David Allyn screen-printed historical photographs from the construction of the State House onto.

"They’re gorgeous," Searle said.

All of the proceeds from the sale will go to support Farm Fresh RI's six core programs, which include the farmer's markets they are well known for, education programs, gleaning, and Market Mobile, which allows people to purchase directly from local farmers online.

The plan is for the marble to be for sale only June 9-11. People with questions or looking to make other arrangements can call Ayres at 401-368-3370.