Opus 40
About one hundred miles from New York City, tucked into a pocket of the Catskills near Saugerties, lies one of the most extraordinary pieces of sculpture ever created by a single man.
The work is an immense composition of finely fitted stone, rising in ramps and swirling terraces around pools and trees and fountains out of the rock bed of an abandoned bluestone quarry. It spreads out over more than six acres.
It is the product of more thirty-seven years of a man's life. His name was Harvey Fite. He worked alone, using his hands and traditional quarryman's tools, to build his masterpiece: Opus 40.
Today, Opus 40 is maintained by a not-for-profit corporation, which is responsible for its maintenance, for opening to the public, and for presenting arts programs.
