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Our Building

The Adamant Co-op doesn't fit neatly into any category. Since its founding in 1935 it has served the surrounding area as grocery store, post office, art studio and home of the infamous Black Fly Festival

Some History of Adamant and the Adamant Co-op

In 1858 a crossroads appeared on an old Washington County map complete with a sawmill and six houses but no name. Granite quarries opened there in 1880, bringing workers from Scotland and Canada. A boarding house built near the quarry along with several  other houses warranted a Post Office, which was called Sodom.

On Sunday mornings, a curtain was pulled across the bar in Barney's Hall - the gathering place for dances and plays - so religious services could be held without distraction.

A school house was built in 1895; until then, classes had been held on the upper floor of a resident's house. By 1896, at least 40 men were employed in six different quarries, and at one time, 50 horses were stabled in the village of Sodom.

Albert Bliss, who refused to receive mail with the unsavory postmark of Sodom, petitioned the Post Office to change its name. Permission was given on the condition that the chosen name be unlike any other post office in the state. In 1905 Sodom was renamed Adamant, chosen for the granite quarries and the hardness of their stone, reportedly "A name perhaps as hard but not as wicked."

During the winter of 1934-1935, a local pastor gathered a group of neighbors to discuss starting a co-operative to buy groceries and create a market for local produce. In August of 1935, after eleven families each contributed five dollars to provide working capital, the Adamant Cooperative was incorporated. The Co-op rented space from Minnie Horr, who operated both the store and the post office out of her house, and purchased the building in 1940 for $600.

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