Highly recommend "Stone by Stone," which was my father's sole reference in building a low dry-stack wall in his back yard in Colebrook. He used stones that he scavenged--slowly, over months--from toppled walls on walks in the woods.
Stone walls can be regionally specific. If you drive from west of Hartford to Westerly, you leave the retaining walls of purple siltstone, with their spots of bright yellow lichen, that are so characteristic of this part of the CT River valley. You'll know you've made it to the shore, driving down Allyn Street, when you smell the sea marsh air and see those peculiar flat-topped walls, capped by huge stones hewn into large rectangles.
Funny that you mention Colebrook. I was just trying to get my older sister to remember a farm we visited there maybe around 1960, owned by some relations (I don't remember their names but our original Connecticut relations were Donnellys, in South Manchester). I vividly remember the kitchen sink with a hand pump, and a stone we broken open, maybe from a fallen down wall, which turned out to have a beautiful quartz interior.
If that itch won't go away, try the Colebrook Historical Society--a very strong organization for such a small town. https://colebrookhistoricalsociety.org
“The deforested green fields … made the incredible abundance of walls light up for me like an intricate neural network….” That’s a keeper! HNY!
Thank you, sir, and a belated Happy New Year!
Lovely post.
Highly recommend "Stone by Stone," which was my father's sole reference in building a low dry-stack wall in his back yard in Colebrook. He used stones that he scavenged--slowly, over months--from toppled walls on walks in the woods.
Stone walls can be regionally specific. If you drive from west of Hartford to Westerly, you leave the retaining walls of purple siltstone, with their spots of bright yellow lichen, that are so characteristic of this part of the CT River valley. You'll know you've made it to the shore, driving down Allyn Street, when you smell the sea marsh air and see those peculiar flat-topped walls, capped by huge stones hewn into large rectangles.
Funny that you mention Colebrook. I was just trying to get my older sister to remember a farm we visited there maybe around 1960, owned by some relations (I don't remember their names but our original Connecticut relations were Donnellys, in South Manchester). I vividly remember the kitchen sink with a hand pump, and a stone we broken open, maybe from a fallen down wall, which turned out to have a beautiful quartz interior.
If that itch won't go away, try the Colebrook Historical Society--a very strong organization for such a small town. https://colebrookhistoricalsociety.org