BARRE, Vt. (AP) – Cyclists can take a ride back through time carved in the hillsides where generations of stoneworkers cut granite from more than 50 quarries.

Barre native Pierre Couture opened the Millstone Hill Touring Center this weekend.

Starting out from the restored 1890s Carnes Barn off Websterville Road, which once housed draft horses that hauled granite, about 15 miles of twisting mountain bike and walking trails have been cut into the surprisingly dense and beautiful forests that lie in Websterville, Upper Graniteville and East Barre.

The trails go past at least 10 water-filled old quarries and the rusting remnants of the granite trade.

There are promontories over quarries and panoramic outlooks from the top of the grout piles.

Yet few people imagined this hilltop spot as a tourist attraction.

“When I first started buying these old quarry lands, people shook their heads. I said I’m not buying the land, I’m buying the history,” said Couture.

He was also buying his own history. His parents raised him on a 125-acre dairy farm that is now part of his 350 acres, which includes a restored barn that houses his Millstone Hill B&B, which he bought three years ago and opened last November.

For years he’s been reuniting parcels to preserve the vistas and forests where he once played.

The catalyst for the creation of the non-profit trail system was hooking up with another Barre native and avid cyclist, Pete Richardson, who will run the touring center. Richardson has worked all over in the granite trade but said he saw a brighter future in its past, introducing people to the history and outdoors.

All the trails were cut this spring. Word of mouth attracted local bike riders and others interested in Couture’s and Richardson’s vision.

Although the trails initially are mostly “single-track” mountain bike paths geared toward technical riders, Couture said the goal was to create strolling trails for walkers and bird watchers, easier biking trails for kids and less accomplished riders, and this winter snowshoe and backwoods cross-country trails.

They also may one day extend beyond quarry hills to the regional bike paths that are planned on nearby former railbeds.

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Information from: The Times Argus, http://www.timesargus.com/