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Some of the finest stone walls are found in Killingworth, Connecticut, as shown above.
Photos by Muffy Aldrich |
"The thing that might impress you most about New England is its stone 'walls.' When they were built anything forming an enclosure was called a fence. Whether it was made of roots or wood or stone, they were never referred to as walls; they are more properly called stone fences."
- Eric Sloane
One of the most famous quotes on stone walls comes from (distant cousin) Robert Frost. "Good fences make good neighbors." This would probably make some "top ten" list of Frost quotes. But of course the quote is a straw man against which he mulls in Mending Wall. This, then, becomes its own meta-cautionary tale. The most memorable cautionary tales, from the movie Wall Street to the board game Monopoly, too often become role models. Life may imitate art, but it more readily imitates satire.
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| I took this in Concord, Massachusetts. |
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| And this in Midcoast Maine. |
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| More dry stone walls in Killingworth, Connecticut |
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| And in Wiscasset, Maine |
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| Eric Sloane and his dog, Spooky - Photograph By My Father |
I have always been fascinated by the walls of New England and in our area of Virginia. I have an old original map of our farm drawn in 1680. Apparently, these walls have been rebuilt numerous times. Often think of the people who built them.
ReplyDeleteMust have been an influx of Yorkshiremen. They are identical to our "dry stone walls" here in the Yorkshire Dales
ReplyDelete"Spooky" - great name for a dog - especially this time of year.
ReplyDeleteThese photographs remind me so much of the old stonewalls almost everywhere where I spent my formative years in SE Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia. Happy sigh.
ReplyDeleteKind Regards,
Heinz-Ulrich
Makes my back hurt just looking at these photographs........Just imagine the labor........Digging them up, transportation and the art of getting them stacked..........Good stuff!
ReplyDeleteAnd I wish I was on that N 17
ReplyDelete(Stone walls and the grass is green)
Yes I wish I was on that N 17
(Stone walls and the grass is green)
Travelling with just my thoughts and dreams
County Mayo. Plenty of building material.
Turf fires in the old days too. Can’t beat the smell of a good turf fire.
The Northwest Corner has its share of stone walls. But not all are made of field stone. Look at some of the cemetery walls. The cemetery wall in Goshen has capstones that are 12-15’ long, 12-18” tall and 2’ wide. Some of the homes in the area have foundations made of such stone. It would take serious ordnance to move them.
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you quote Frost’s poem on this ancient subject, since mankind has always believed in walls. Unfortunately, since day one we’ve needed protection and delineation from one another (whether by stacked stones in New England or elsewhere). For example, the Bible is full of walls – as was Medieval Europe. As a species we’re basically wall builders. As Hemingway would say “Walls are good.”
ReplyDeleteOf course, we all live behind walls, and as George Carlin once pointed out, we need a big roofed box to keep all our “stuff” safe from theft and harm – hence walls, locked doors and security systems for our dwellings.
I find it ironic, that people living behind secure walls (mainly financial, gated communities, private security, etc.) are the ones constantly telling the vulnerable less fortunate to do away with walls (i.e. go ahead remove your walls, and let the invasion by total strangers begin!) And even though President Reagan was correct when he called out: “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!” he meant let those trapped behind the wall be free (the exact opposite aim of today’s wall haters and destroyers.)
I have voted Republican for 50 years. I don’t understand why most of your comments have to do with politics.
DeleteI personally find walls, beautiful, and often wonder who built the them.
Maybe just a beauty of the dying art of building walls.
DeleteAnon at 2:30 PM:
ReplyDeleteMy comment was just about the impact of walls and how they can be both good and bad, but, of course, you 're entitled to read into it whatever you like.
I respectfully disagree completely completely
DeleteKeep in mind most countries in the world have many more walls than the USA. Anyone who has travelled in Central and South America, Africa and Asia - as well as Europe - will recall so many modest, as well as more expensive and substantial, homes sequestered behind walls. The USA is unusual that one can drive right up the driveways of so many affluent families. This of course changing. There are now many many gated communities, mostly outside New England. Is the lack of such communities in New England attributable to an egalitarian spirit not found in places like Florida, California, Arizona, Arkansas and other like states?
DeleteI, for one, appreciate your perspective; your comment was very thoughtful and astute. When I see old dry stone walls in England, I marvel at how old many of them are, and the labour that went into them, but I also tend to think about how it seems to be a part of human nature to keep things in as well as out. Stone walls also have a sense of finality, whereas hedgerows feel more organic, living and mutable, hence I tend to prefer them when I am out on countryside walks.
ReplyDeleteSuch wonderful things, are the classic stone fence/wall!
DeletePerhaps the building of "stone walls", or "stone fences" was a practical matter--the removal of stones that needed to be cleared so that a field could be planted.
ReplyDeleteI often think of Frost's poem about 'Mending Walls' more about close neighbors getting together in the spring to repair walls that kept their livestock on their own properties. A time to see their neighbors once the winter weather has given way to spring and sharing conversation and fellowship. A pleasant time to see one another after a long New England winter.
ReplyDelete