Devonian Stone of New York, Inc., a sandstone mining and fabrication company in Windsor, NY, has recently expanded its facilities and is now offering tours to architects and other building industry professionals. Tours include a visit to the company’s production facilities, custom fabrication facilities and also to its quarry, where blasting demonstrations are offered upon request.

Tours of the Devonian Stone operation are more than just a walk through the company’s facilities -- they are an educational experience. Owner Robert Bellospirito is a registered instructor with the AIA, and for several years, he has visited architectural firms throughout the northeast to help educate architects about the use of New York sandstone as a building material. Now the classroom has been moved to the source, and the on-site location makes it easier for visitors to better understand the in-depth information that is being shared. Bellospirito personally conducts each tour and explains various stages of the process of how the stone goes from quarry to finished product.

At the start of the tour, visitors are first shown a layout of the facility, and then brought through the plant area, where the raw material is cut into slabs with high production saws. Then it’s onto another facility where the material is processed, finished and cut to size using a patented flame-finishing machine that Bellospirito designed and built himself. After that, it’s on to the custom fabrication facility. A tour of the quarry follows, which is more like a course in New York State geology because of Bellospirito’s knowledge of the subject. Four years ago, Bellospirito was credited with the first modern scientific mineral exploration for Devonian sandstone, so part of what is discussed is the formation of the stone and the different ways it can be explored.

For more information about tours, contact Devonian Stone of New York, Inc. at 607-655-2600 or visit: www.devonianstone.com.