Trimming Grass and Weeds Around
Old New England Property
(Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures
Part Seven
"An... Absolute Jewel"
Within
the concise... of less than one half mile wide diameter... circle... that... easily encloses my...
residential neighborhood... there stand SIX colonial era (1740-1760) ‘dug
cellars’. There is an additional
1790 ...primitive... ‘Federal Style’ ‘dug cellar’ homestead too that... is more
correctly denoted to be modeled on the, for example, Portsmouth, NH colonial
waterfront ‘in anticipation of’ (Federal style) HOMESTEAD (emphasizing that
last word in opposition to any FANCY Federal style... thoughts). Of the seven ‘sites’... FIVE of the
homesteads, including the ‘late’ one, have their original ‘house’ on top of
their original ‘dug cellar’. TWO
of the colonial homestead sites are... cellar... holes. Both of these cellar... holes... are
‘hidden’ and ‘undisturbed’ as I write (2014).
All five of the actual houses are,
for the most part, ‘original’ with only modest ‘changes’. ALL are of their original (primitive
small low square box-around-large-center-brick fireplace kitchen chimney) ‘Cape
Style’ form with no... no... disturbance to the trained eye on this
precept. All other homes within
this circle... and for a few miles away too... were built after... and ‘well
after’... World War II. MOST
additional homes were built WELL less than twenty years ago. What that means is that from the
Colonial era until ‘now’... no additional ‘antique’ homes (Greek Revival,
Victorian, Civil War era, etc.) were built. This is NOT a unique setting. One may travel two miles further “out” (the coastal Maine
land finger) to ‘come upon’ another EQUAL if not slightly earlier (1738)
‘settlement’... for example.
These... ‘sheltered’ ‘settlements’ from the colonial era prospered by
‘taking’ the (sheltered) ‘best land’ next to the (sheltered) ‘best cove’ (salt
water access) and... as family, never letting go of it. There was no need to ‘let go’ to
‘improve’ for these lands and their access to the sea... were... and are
still... perfection... of... old New England property. It was not until the
CAR...
CHANGED
Everything...
(1950-ish)
That...
“land”
“Was
sold” (for ‘people’ to ‘build houses’ “ON”).
KEEPING
a steady hand on this... pleasing... evolution of this sort of residential
community development... to this day... is the... pleasing... partnership of historic preservation
and
Poverty.
There
is no historic preservation ‘around here’ but LACK OF (any) MONEY has, after
the (“waterfront”) “LAND” “WAS SOLD”, preserved the ‘original undisturbed
state’ of the clusters of ‘colonial settlements’. “OTHER PLACES” where there is found “MORE MONEY” have ...NOT...
‘survived’. This includes those
“other places” “cellar holes” too.
Get
the message: Poverty preserves...
MONEY destroys.
Example?
“WE
HAD THE HOUSE RAISED AND PUT A (poured cement eight to twelve foot high)
BASEMENT UNDER IT and are BUILDING THE ADDITION ON THE BACK TOO”.
So
much for that colonial hand dug ‘crawl space’ and ‘cellar hole’.
“WE
RESTORED IT
OURSELVES”
(Using
money):
“IT
COSTS A LOT TO DO THIS (‘restore’ a ‘colonial’) “CAPE”.
But
what about the ‘property’?
“WE
DIDN’T NEED ALL THAT... LAND. WHAT
ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH IT. THEY
SUB-DIVIDED IT.”
“Oh...
there used to be a (colonial era) house on it (that land).”
“IT
WAS JUST A CELLAR HOLE. THEY
FILLED IT IN”.
“Oh.”
“YOU’D
NEVER KNOW IT WAS THERE. THEY
BUILT A HOUSE BEHIND WHERE IT WAS”.
Where
It
was.
Get
it?
The
way it used to be done, the bulldozer (the machine making the backup beeping
noise) would approach the cellar hole from around the four sides and...
“bump”... the cut granite (foundation) cap stones... into...
The cellar hole
First.
Once
rid of these stones as upward protrusions, the ...dozer... would... ‘fill in’
and ‘level’ “THE SITE” by religiously ‘pushing in’ the ‘field stone lined
walls’ of the ‘hole’ while ‘pushing additional material (gardens, landscape)
“INTO” “THE HOLE”
Too.
Completion...
of the ‘filling in the cellar hole’ project was... celebrated... by the
bulldozer hurriedly driving back and forth on top (“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”) of
the filed hole to ‘pack it down’ ‘flush’ so ‘you wouldn’t even know’ that a
cellar hole... or colonial homestead... ‘had been there.
This
‘be done’ changed passionately, religiously and... commercially by the mid
1970’s. “PEOPLE” “DISCOVERED” the
...foundation cap “stones” and “WANT THOSE” so had the ‘bumping’ ‘into’ stopped
and
The
cap stones are now gathered up (usually by something going “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP,
BEEP” too)
To be ‘loaded’ and ‘hauled away’
(includes more beeping) to become...
Commercially
valuable
Granite
landscape fixtures.
Often
they became... “WALL” along “THE EDGE” of... they (house lots) are not really a
“PROPERTY” even though the “THEY” called them “THAT”: “MY PROPERTY
Property
is theft?******
OR...
they ‘are used as’ “STEPS” (to the front door of “MY HOUSE”).
OK: Stopping right here we must take a....
slash and burn... side trip WITHIN the wonderland of old New England property
(antique) granite landscape fixtures.
For the ‘own good’.
A
“step” and the “STEPS” are... like troughs, millstones, colonial quarries,
‘sits on ledge’ and... cellar holes... a true old New England property
(antique) granite landscape fixture.
A true ‘step’ has true form, true age, true placement, true wear and
true... true... TRUTH of true... to the effort of ‘knowing about’ ... old New
England property (antique) granite landscape fixtures.
Reversed,
to no surprise (to the reader by now?), if one places or stacks up old New
England cellar hole ‘cap stones’ and ‘uses them’ as “STEPS” and... therefore...
purveys them to all comers as “NICE” “MY” “STEPS”
God
damn you... for you have God damned yourself before him. What one actually ‘has’... is a “cut
(granite) stone being used as a step”.
This is because a true ‘step’ IS a true STEP... and is easily discerned
as ‘being that’.
The
step form... is a long-ish ‘squared’ rectangle that... closely resembles a, for
example, ‘foundation cap stone’ BUT
It
is ‘finished’ (‘made to be a step’).
Characteristically
the TOP of the “STONE” is... ‘chiseled down’ about one half to three fourths of
an inch ‘all the way across’ the top in visible lines that make the surface
look like a... nail file... texture... TWO THIRDS of the ‘way back’ leaving the
BACK THIRD at the original height and ‘unfinished’. This ...distinctive crafting... is for ‘ice in winter’ and
‘drainage’ of moisture (rain) “OFF” the step that... in fact only works sort of
due to the winter time ‘bridge freezes first (step freezes first) condition BUT
IS DONE (by a lone man and hand chisel working ‘on it’ ‘for days’) IN ‘good
effort’ intention and... MUST BE THERE.. to be a true antique granite “step” because
that is the “WAY THEY DID IT” ‘back then’. THIS cut into the granite... traction ribbing...
IS
THEN
Required...
too... to be of “LONG USAGE WORN”... “smoothed down” from CENTURIES of FOOT
WEAR...: “WORN” on the top
surface, the ribbing, the ‘all exposed edges... including the
NOT
WORN
And
not worn edges...
Where
“NO ONE WALKS”.
That
is a step; an old New England property front door step CLASSIC .
“Do
not accept an imitation”.
A
foundation cap stone ‘placed’ and ‘used’ as a “MY STEPS”... ‘is not’
One. It is, again, a ‘cut (granite) stone
being used as a step’.
Know
the difference.
I
know the difference... in one quarter second of a glance.
Once
one ‘SEES’ “THIS” ... one does not forget ‘it’.
WHAT
premium does one think a ‘real’ ‘step’ “COMMANDS” ‘in the market’?
Or...
when “THEY” take the “STONES” (foundation cap stones), why do they always very,
very carefully take the ‘steps’ ‘first’?
Do
you have a real step? Go out and
LOOK.
Now
that I have assisted one in discerning an... absolute jewel... of a TRUE old
New England property (antique) granite landscape fixture... we may go back to
Fretting
The
‘filled in’
Of
the... old... New England... cellar hole.
“Brimstone
and Hellfire
You
say?"
It's tough to accept, we are thieves, when we fill in the cellar holes (abuse), and they were thieves when they dug and built the cellars (use).
ReplyDelete