Opus 40, picturesque against the Catskills Mountain's Built out of an old bluestone quarry covering six acres, Harvey Fite spent 37 years, sculpting alone, using hand tools and blasting powder. A nine-ton monolith is its focal point.

Gray-haired men clamber down to the lower levels, pausing to appreciate a tiered rock wall here, a cornerstone there. One passing us on a stone bridge has to comment. "One man. All this work. Wow."

Yea -- wow. In 1976, Harvey died at age 73 when his riding lawnmower stuck in gear and went over the edge into the quarry, hurling him to his death. "He died instantly," the ticket clerk told us, with no trace of amusement. A plaque beside the walkway to the monolith honors Fite and his wife.

Story found on Roadsideamerica.com