Limestone is a common, indigenous material here in Kansas. So common at one time, in fact, that miles of fences made of stacked limestone were built throughout the state. They are a meaningful and beautiful reference point for even contemporary construction.
Pictured above are just a few Kansas dry stone fences gathered from around the web. Some are in better condition than others, as they are marked by the years that have passed since they were first painstakingly laid. The fences are called "dry stone" because they are simply fitted together, not mortared. Kansas legislature authorized the construction of these fences in 1867, before barbed wire came on the scene.
They're inspiring at the least, and I often find myself daydreaming about building a small house that incorporates this simple local beauty of stacking stones.
If you want to see more, take a look at Lynette and Glen's Pics Flickr photostreams.
Images: Ann Williamson / Topeka Capital-Journal, Native Stone Scenic Byway, Stone Fence Restoration Workshop, Keith Davis,
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Comments (15)
There are also a lot of these in Kentucky. Ireland is jam packed with them. I want to buy a pasture just so I can have one of these now.
The micro-climate created immediately on the lee and even on the wind-ward side of a stone fence is astoundingly warmer/drier than at a distance from it. This can be used if you wish to grow plants that normally wouldn't make it in your zone.
It's partly the protection from freezing winds that the wall offers, but also the heat-storage capacity of the stone materials. Isn't that cool?
It IS cool, DeborahMcP! In fact, as a landscape garden designer we got to employ this simple 'warming' effect to great pleasure at a property I was designing. We had the stone fence facing the most powerfully warm arc of the sun so the heat AND the protection from the coldest winds from the N/NW were maximized. Here in Zone 5 we could actually grow small Zone 6 plants there.
My husband and I were bitten by the dry stone bug and took a class at Cornell for it. We set about creating a small one at our own property...what a labor of love! We'd gathered stones from the corner piles in farmer's fields and went to work. Many months later we had ourselves a proper stone wall into a bank, 4' tall by 12' long with a small set of steps in it. That was 15 years ago and it still looks great.
Hundreds of miles of these in Scotland and Shetland, too.
Stone Therapy.
lovely, correct about ireland, check out the Burren, its almost an art form to build dry stone walls, i had the pleasure of spending a few weeks helping a old family friend build walls one summer as a teenager.. its amazing to see the stones come together.. almost like tetris in 3d :-), different areas would have signature patterns they would build into teh walls, very very cool.
These types of walls are also very common in my native Yorkshire, England. I love them.
I have a house in the catskills and would LOVE to do this in part of the garden but - and here is my total city-slicker naive question - where does one even go about getting (i.e. buying) the stones? Does anyone know of a source in the Woodstock area?
My dad is a bricklayer/stonemason and has been showing off some stone piers that he just built.
I grew up laboring for him (mixing mortar, loading materials, setting up scaffold) so I have quite an appreciation for stone and masonry. These stacked stone walls are really incredible both in terms of size and the amount of work that it took to build them.
@fade on violet, my dad is actually from a town near Bradford, so he's a real english bricklayer! actually, he learned the trade in Australia from Italians who are also true masters.
here's what happens when another Englishman, John Pawson, gets a hold of stone:
http://www.dezeen.com/2010/05/06/house-of-stone-by-john-pawson/
It's pretty easy now to achieve the dry-stacked stone look through cultured stone veneers like those from eldorado stone and the like. You steel need to hire a good installer but the process is much easier now--putting together a wall with real stone is a real art (or takes a real "art"--my dad's name).
Throughout KS you'll also find limestone (or flintstone?) fence poles used for attaching barbed-wire. I have a photo of one that's got some kind of a gauge on it but I can't seem to find it.
@lawgirl, you can contact a brick yard near you to see what kind of stone they carry. You can even visit a commercial landscaping company--they often carry native stone. The type of stone, if it is real, will depend on what is quarried in your area or what they have a demand for.
Stone Therapy is right!! We have some old ones around our property, and my husband, who is a stone mason, is putting news ones around our gardens. We are just beginning... but they already feel like the Scottish Isles to me, here in lowly Northern VT.
www.monolithstonework.com shows his gorgeous work. Oh! I'm so proud!!
Oh these are just gorgeous!
I hope to install a low dry stone wall around the flower bed in front of the foundation of my house. And face the exposed concrete foundation with matching veneer. Someday...
snowboarderjay@gmail.com
If you live in Seattle area you need to get a hold of him, he made some amazing dry stacked walls around my house and steps with those plants (I cant remember their name?) coming out of them. Such a nice and homey feel it sets to the house, you feel very welcomed every time you come home from a day in the city.
I LOVE dry stone walls...and as a landscape designer in Canada, I can tell you that it's a dying art. Thankfully there's a place to learn!
The Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada offers courses in DSW construction. They're hands on and usually a weekend's worth of hard but enjoyable work on a "real" project. My brother-in-law did a course a couple of years ago where they rebuilt a section of wall at the the MacKenzie King Estate in Gatineau, Quebec (just north of Ottawa).
He had a great time with like-minded people and came away with the knowledge he needs to tackle a project at home!
Check out the DSWAC website at
http://www.dswa.ca/
Sheila
I love these!
In the 1960s, my mother (who was about five months pregnant at the time) started a six-foot-high stone wall around our ugly, unlandscaped suburban rancher. She finished a few days before giving birth to my brother.
I spent a few days helping but as a teenager, I didn't even last a few hours in the sun and heat.
The wall was something like 50 feet long when finished. I still can't believe how much she did alone. And how great it looked.
The wall still stands (though they long ago moved away) and has survived many decades of rain and snow coming down the hillsides.
FYI: The stones were all over the property and she, a Martha Stewart-type before there was a Martha, started the wall as a way to use the stones and not just toss them, but also to shore up both sides of the property, which was on a hill.
I don't think there was anything she ever did that left me awestruck by both her creativity and sheer fortitude in finishing it. This mom DID rock when it came to using rocks!