Salem sits 18.1 driving miles from our Dispatch Office in Dorchester, inside our flat delivery zone — $100 per load, no mileage surcharge. For beds that catch wind off Salem Sound, buy angular stone ¾" or larger. Gray Granite, Creek Stone and Rip Rap stay where you put them. Pea stone and white marble do not.
Does Ottr deliver stone to Salem, and what does it cost?
Yes: $100 per load. Anything inside 30 driving miles of the yard at 18 Jan Karski Way in Dorchester is flat rate, with no per-yard freight and no minimum order. The fee is per dump-truck trip, stone caps at 6 cubic yards a trip, and loads are counted per line item — three yards of Gray Granite plus three of Creek Stone is two trips and $200.
Why does coastal exposure change which stone you should buy?
Salem is not uniformly coastal. A sheltered bed in South Salem is a different problem from one on Salem Neck or out toward Winter Island, where nothing stands between the yard and open water. Northeast blows cross Salem Sound and move anything light. Airborne salt films every surface within a few hundred feet of the water — chalky haze on pale stone, algae food in shade. Much of the city also sits on shallow soil over ledge, so exposed beds bake hard, and stone beats mulch there because it does not blow away. Check the NWS Boston forecast before a delivery day and the NRCS Web Soil Survey for your parcel.
Which five stones hold up best in Salem?
1. Gray Granite ¾" — $79.50/yd
Crushed local granite with sharp faces that key into each other, so the surface behaves like a mat rather than a pile of marbles. Also sold as #57 stone. The default for bed cover, side yards and drip lines.
2. Gray Granite 1.5" — $85/yd
Same rock, bigger pieces. Where ¾" still scatters — a windward bed, a slope, the corner that funnels every gust — step up. Harder to walk on, easier to weed around, and it will not move.
3. Creek Stone 2"–3" — $115/yd
Rounded, mixed-tone, heavy enough that wind is irrelevant. The decorative pick for exposed sites: dry streambeds, downspout splash zones, wide borders. Too big to track indoors.
4. Rip Rap 6"–12" — $65/yd
Armour stone for real water — shoreline edges, ditch lines, culvert outfalls, the foot of a slope that washes onto the driveway. Cheapest here per yard, and not a bed cover.
5. Brown Riverbed ¾" — $90/yd
The colour choice. Warm browns hide salt haze and grey coastal dust the way white never will. Caveat: it is rounded and rolls, so keep it inside a firm edge and off slopes.
| Stone | Price/yd | Holds position | Colour under sun and salt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gray Granite ¾" | $79.50 | Very good — interlocks | Grey, weathers evenly |
| Gray Granite 1.5" | $85 | Excellent | Grey, weathers evenly |
| Creek Stone 2"–3" | $115 | Excellent — too heavy to move | Mixed tones, very stable |
| Rip Rap 6"–12" | $65 | Excellent — armour stone | Grey, weathers evenly |
| Brown Riverbed ¾" | $90 | Fair — needs firm edging | Warm brown, hides salt film |
What should you avoid near salt spray?
Two stones we sell and will happily deliver, but not to an exposed Salem bed. Riverbed ⅜" (Pea Stone), $97.50 — rounded and small is a bad combination in wind and on any grade. It migrates to the low corner, rolls into the lawn where the mower finds it, and rides indoors on shoe treads. White Marble ¾", $156 — striking on day one, but by the second season near salt air it greys and holds algae.
How much stone do you need?
cubic yards = (square feet × depth in inches) ÷ 324
Stone goes down 2 to 3 inches for cover. A 4-foot bed running 30 feet along a foundation is 120 square feet; at 2 inches that is 0.74 yards, so order one. A yard covers roughly 160 square feet at 2 inches.
Salem stone questions
Can stone replace mulch in a planted bed?
In some beds. Stone does not decompose, so it feeds nothing — fine around shrubs and grasses, wrong around annuals and vegetables. It also stores heat.
Can you deliver to a narrow street in the McIntire district?
Usually. Curbside is the default drop and our trucks work tight Boston streets all day — flag narrow access on the order. On-property drops require a signed waiver.
Is $100 the whole delivery cost for Salem?
Per load, yes. It multiplies only if the order needs a second trip, from passing the 6-yard cap or ordering two materials.
Browse decorative stone by the cubic yard or the full crushed stone range, see our Salem page, and enter your ZIP at checkout for the exact figure.
Related reading: How to Set a Shed Foundation Pad in a Randolph Backyard and How Deep Should Mulch Be in Summer? The Two-Inch Rule, Revisited.
