Trimming Grass and Weeds Around Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Fifteen - "By and Along"

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around

Old New England Property

(Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures

Part Fifteen

"By and Along"

            In the 1740’s... when a lone man... moved a single ‘field stone’ from an area he was ‘clearing’ to become ‘(barn) yard’, ‘field’ or ‘pasture’, he probably was NOT the first ‘English Settler’ to do that; move a field stone to ‘clear’... there.  Probably two if not three or four ‘attempts’ at ‘settlement’ “HERE” had already resulted in numerous field stones being moved and... even... those moved field stones having been ‘piled’ ‘up’... “THERE”.  In the 1740’s, the lone man may have begun his ‘clearing’ of field stone by... adding to a pile of field stones that

            TODAY

            Appear in the exact same spot as a section of an

            Old Stone Wall...

            On an old New England property.

            There were no roads “THERE” in 1740.  There were foot paths, traces and ‘blazed trails’.  There were ‘log cabins’ in ‘clearings’.  There were fires... constantly burning “everything” in the clearing.  There were cut-down-trees and stumps.  In this... expanding clearing... were... a very abundant number of ...field ...stones.  The man... began... ‘moving them’ into piles of field stones right away.  IF... there was ‘already’ ‘a pile’ “started” he... ‘add to that’ in addition to ‘starting’ new ‘piles’.  A pile of field stones expanded sideways... for to have it expand (rise) up... was ...more ‘work’.  Piles... at the log cabin site in the clearing... expanded toward each other... and “OUT” toward ‘further clearing’.

            Steadily

            Without a landscape plan

            Or landscape crew

            Or... much consideration

            At all.

            Except to note that... ‘remarkably large’ field stones were moved

            Too.

            By and along... the piles joined logically but otherwise thoughtlessly to become... today’s ‘walls’.  “FENCE” is presumed to be title of expanding field stone piles?  No.  “FENCE” was created by stacked split wood rails split from chopped down trees.  Field stones were ‘moved’ to “THERE”; to these crude fencings... to be ‘piled’ out of the way of the ‘clearing’... by being placed ‘along the edge’.  They (the field stones and the lone man) were not ‘making a stone wall’.  Piled field stones became... stone walls ‘by and along’ during the ...last quarter millennium... after the split rail fence ‘rotted’ or ‘was burned’ in the cabin for heat (in the middle of a harsh February).

            By and along.

            Today, a ‘stone wall’ is a ...can be... a... is often a... very TOO... planned and paid for...:  Mr. Wallet may move a lot of field stone... if he (Mr. Wallet) decides to... “do that” (clear field stone and move it into... very, very, very, very skillfully choreographed ‘expanding piles’ that fabricate “BEAUTIFUL” “STONE” “WALLS”.

            And just because... in the 1740’s... a man moved a single field stone to an expanding pile “THERE” does not mean he never moved it (that same field stone) again... and again... and... perhaps... again... over the next ...several generations of his spawn in the ‘next one hundred years’ (to the Civil War – 1860).  In fact, the closer the piled field stone cleared... was to the original cleared homestead site... the by-far-greater chance THAT field stone “THERE” would be moved.  And moved.  That includes the moving of whole expanded piles field stones called today “STONE” “WALLS”. “THEY” “USED TO” “MOVE” stone walls.  Too.

            It is tiring to consider this... field stone... moving and piling... is it not?  HOW could one EVER... therefore... have enough strength to ‘make a wall’.

            Well... as I just related... they did not ‘make a wall’.  And THEN we go back to my denotation of ‘TIME’ (Part Thirteen [B] )

            “THEY” had the “TIME”.

            Moving (‘clearing’) field stone was a continuum.  Done ‘by and along’ and... no one today ‘clears’ field stone for, say, a six or seven hour morning’s work... repeatedly over twenty to forty year... ‘effort’ so to understand just how much field stone can be cleared with that amount of time for that amount of work ‘before dinner’.... has been lost.  Well... I report to those lost... one may clear a great amount of field stone... and actually become extremely good at doing that... in a forty year time period.  Starting in 1740... forty years of ‘clearing field stone’ would bring the date to ...1780.  The American Revolutionary War was still going on and... the lone man was STILL clearing field stone.

            This aspect... is important to consider when ‘looking at’ an ‘old stone wall’.  The ‘clearing’ (moving) the field stone was the hard part.  The piling ‘at the edge’ of the field stone was ...the easy part.  ONCE the lone man had the ‘stone’ “THERE” all he had to do was... UN... load... it... ‘over at the edge’.  Often in the shade... of the NOT CUT and CLEARED forest and... “look... there is a place to sit down” “for a minute” and... and... WELL:

            LIKE today’s employee working for the landscape guy – dry mason guy... HE... ‘took his time’ and THAT MOMENT

            RIGHT THERE

            IS WHY

            “A stone wall” “THERE”

            Looks like it does.

            “THINGS” “HAPPENED”.

            The first time a person looking at a stone wall notices that “THE STONES” “IN THE WALL” are... ‘shimmed’ in place and ...stones on top of those shimmed stones are shimmed too and, “TOO”, ‘seem fitted’ and... “WELL NOT THAT FITTED I MEAN

            COME ON”.

            That’s right... just ‘sort of’ a better then ‘they didn’t JUST DUMP these stones and... how could a lone man JUST DUMP any load of cleared field stone being hauled on a rock sledge by HIS oxen who... he and they... ‘were a team’... alone together ‘clearing’ field stone so...

            HE just did un-load those field stones... ‘the way I feel like it’.  Doing that; him and the oxen un-loading... for decades, playfully... by and along... and THAT... created a

            STONE WALL

            Playfully by and along for hours and hours and days and months and years and decades explains

            WHY

            A STONE WALL

            “Looks like that.”

            IF ONE CHOOSES TO LOOK

            For that “IN”

            A stone wall.

            The elements of chance; the chance gathering of ‘that’ field stone(s), the chance distance from one stone to the next.  The chance size of each stone.  The chance of moving each stone and that chance influenced by the chance of how “HE” (the lone man) ‘happened to feel’ about ...any or all... ‘of that’... by and along... as the morning went

            By and along.

            AND our ‘follow’ of this process has not even started to HAUL the stone ‘off... over there’ yet.  The oxen too... by and along... and how THEY feel.  And ‘go too’.  And... how THEY feel ‘off... over there’ and ...THEY feel ABOUT ‘off... over there’... by and along... with the song birds flitting in the trees.

            Bees buzzing

            Distant frog crooking.

            Smoke from the cabin chimney

            Horizon line of forest

            Blue sky

            By and along.

            That all... is the source of the START of the INSPIRATION of

            Piling field stones

            To make a stone wall

            On an old New England property

            So that a quarter of a millennium later

            They become

            (Antique) granite landscape fixtures

            That one may

            Trim grass and weeds around

            Using a weed whacker and

            A chemical weed killer in a plastic spray bottle.

            “Such a vile

            And insensitive...

            Uninformed

            Wretch be?”

            “We are having (some of) the WALL rebuilt.  JUST down to the EDGE of the LINE (of the lot).  IT will LOOK so much BETTER I SAW where they (the dry mason referred by the landscape ...service) DID THAT and IT LOOKS SO MUCH BETTER DID YOU KNOW they SELL THE ROCKS NOW I HAD NO IDEA we can even PICK OUT the ROCKS we LIKE.”

            It really should not be a surprise that the actual unloading... one by one by hand... of the ‘cleared’ field stones.... into a pile... quickly  created an unguided... unregulated, unconsidered and mostly happen-stance ‘wall building’ ‘of sort’ by and along.  It was the easiest, least labored conclusion of ‘clearing field stone’:  The ‘clearing’ of field stone was ‘that far up’ ‘the field’ and... the piles of cleared field stone... were ‘that far up’ the ‘edge’... “TOO”... so “THERE” was established as a ‘moving’ by and along ‘pile’ with a tiny touch of “HE” ‘feels’ that included occasional consideration of ‘THAT ONE’ “on top” at the least with the OFF CHANCE too of ... “HE” ‘getting into it’ (piling cleared field stone as “WALL” as “HE” went along... by and along).  In the whole process of clearing field stone THAT was the only part that had an option for creative nuance.  Today one may still find ‘undisturbed’ ‘old stone wall’ that has passed through time ‘just as “HE” piled “THEM” “THERE”... by and along.