As the excavation work for our addition was beginning (and how dramatic it was) I noticed a bunch of large rocks being dug up.
I figured that these would be terrific materials to build a stone wall, so I asked the crew to please save the stones.
At some point near the end of the project when we turn to landscape and hardscape, we will find a place for a stone wall.
A brief history of New England Stone Walls
Growing up in southern Connecticut, I always admired the stone walls that were everywhere. Because I could see the walls even in the woods, it was clear to even my elementary school self that the walls were made a long time ago.
New England’s wall stones date back to between about 30,000 and 15,000 years ago, when the Laurentide ice sheet retreated and left billions of stones scattered throughout the area.
But the stones weren’t exposed until the 1700s and 1800s when there was widespread deforestation in the area by New Englanders who needed vast amounts of wood to build houses and heat their homes. When the ground was laid bare, frost penetrated deeper than before, churning up the soil and bringing stones to the surface.
Most of the region’s stone walls were built during the Revolutionary period between 1775 and 1825, a time that has been called the "golden age" of stone wall building. Over several generations, more than 200,000 miles of stone walls were built.
Most of New England walls were built to divide fields by ownership or to separate animals and crops. Laws in Colonial America required a farm fence to be 3 to 4 feet high. But since walls were built by hand, most did not reach this height as it was much more effort to lift the stones to do so. Therefore, farmers added wooden rails to top the stone helping to pen in animals.
The majority of New England farms were abandoned by the end of the industrial revolution as traditional farming gave way to better jobs in factories. But the walls remained.
For more, check out the article The history, science and poetry of New England's stone walls by John-Manuel Andriote.
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