Guaye Grey Kiln Introduction
The gray-white castle-like building by the Guoya Coast is the Guoya Lime Kiln. Although it is located on national security forest land, it was independently constructed by the public as a lime-burning facility. When it was built in the 1960s, cement was not yet common, so the walls were built with local basalt from Penghu along with mortar; the later additions featured hollow brick walls and reinforced concrete floors and roofs. At the time of the establishment of the Guoya Lime Kiln, the construction industry in Taiwan was just beginning to flourish, and lime was the mainstream adhesive building material, with large quantities of Penghu lime being sold to Taiwan. Additionally, lime was needed for building wooden boats, marking sports fields, or making plaster models, so the business of the Guoya Lime Kiln thrived. The owner put a lot of effort into the hardware facilities of the lime kiln. However, lime burning significantly contributed to air pollution, and with the mass production of cement, Penghu's lime kiln production rapidly declined, coming to an end around 1970, with Guoya Lime Kiln only catching the tail end of its glory days. Looking at the Guoya Lime Kiln in front of you, it consists of two groups of buildings on the east and west sides. The eastern group includes two kilns, large and small, along with several gray rooms for sifting lime and storage sheds. Both kilns are circular. The western group only includes a few storage sheds, restrooms, and ancillary buildings like a water tower.
