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Dry Stone Masonry by Carolyn Murray-Wooley
Dry stone masonry is the most ancient, durable, widespread, and environmentally
kind building method devised by mankind. Stone structures built without
mortar rely on the skill of the craftsmen and the forces of gravity and
frictional resistance. Stone has been a successful building medium throughout
the ages and around the world because of its unique range of benefits. The
structures are remarkably durable; indeed, if correctly designed, they are
earthquake resistant. They resist fire, water, and insect damage. The mason
needs a minimum of tools; the work is easily repaired; the material is readily
available and recyclable. Dry stone masonry does not deplete resources and,
aesthetically, complements and enhances the landscape.
Kentucky has a wonderful dry stone tradition. Richer and more diverse than
most people realize, it is a heritage forged from labor, ingenuity, and
sheer necessity, using skills the early settlers brought with them. As in
much of the early United States, stone was the material of choice in Kentucky
for the array of structures needed for living, farming, transportation,
and industry. Dry stone mills, bridges, stone houses, barns, spring houses,
ice houses, smoke houses, retaining walls, canals, piers, dams, monuments,
forts, tombs, and shelters pervaded the land. By the late nineteenth century,
dry laid rock fences bordered every turnpike in central Kentucky. In short,
Kentucky was as much a stone-built region as the inhabitants' ancestral
homelands—Scotland, England, Ireland, France, and Germany—but
this is not obvious because so few structures remain today.
Early stone houses are hidden and decaying in new growth woodlands. Streams
flow through ruins of once roaring mill dams. Often, demolition of historic
buildings provides stone veneer for new construction. Rock is commonly,
but illegally, taken from damaged fences, making maintenance much more difficult.
Highway widening projects often demolish roadside stone walls. Today, it
is almost impossible to realize that the remnants of stone fences, virtual
symbols of the Kentucky landscape, represent but a tiny fraction of those
which once existed. Alarmingly, less than 5 percent of these historic walls
and fences survive, and most of them are in need of repair.
While we no longer have the same needs as those early settlers, there are
impelling reasons to revive and preserve this ancient craft today: to repair
historic structures, provide worthwhile employment, promote tourism, and
preserve beautiful landscapes.
