Top : Stone walls can last hundreds of years , but when neglected for too long , fall into disrepair . Above : Restoring this stone wall in Unison is rewarding work as a bit of history is reassembled and the end result can be enjoyed by all who pass by .
The style and structure of a wall yields clues about its builder ’ s intent and social status . Creating a stacked wall — the most efficient method for marking a boundary or making a fence — is indicative of the early American farmer ’ s efforts to manage stone refuse and eke a living out of the land . Estate walls and double-wide consumption walls , on the other hand , were expensive capital improvements and conveyed status , prosperity , and a certain degree of leisure time .
The use of vertical copestones atop a wall represents an English tradition and may have served as early “ no trespassing ” signs when added to walls near a home , or when added to a pasture wall , the functional purpose of preventing animals from stretching their necks over the walls .
The stone walls of Loudoun may be the best artifact we have of the original settlement patterns of the county . Under Lord Thomas Fairfax ’ s patent grant system , and to encourage settlement in what was then a wilderness , land patents required the grantee to construct a “ patent house ” of specific dimensions , plant an orchard of peach or apple trees , and wall off the property with a stone fence . The history of this original land grant system suggests that the genesis of Loudoun County ’ s earliest stone walls arose out of the requirement to demonstrate ownership . This may be particularly so in the southern and western parts of the county , which were settled by the landed gentry of the Virginia Tidewater who brought slaves with them to establish tobacco plantations , as opposed to the northeastern part of the county that was predominantly settled by Pennsylvania Quakers .
While stone walls appear within the historic villages of Lincoln and Waterford as exceptional examples of Quaker craftsmanship , the lack of stone walls throughout the contryside in this part of the county — a consequence of the relative absence of slave labor — is noteworthy . In this way , the existence or absence of stone walls , as an initial matter , can provide us with tangible mapping into the cultural and religious underpinnings of the original settlers .
While many stone walls may originally have been built for purely practical aims , dry-stack stone walls — assembled with no tools other than the mason ’ s hammer , ingenuity , and skillful selection of interlocking stones — demonstrate a high degree of artistry and an aesthetic intent as much or more than a functional one . As Wendell Berry writes , “ the walls themselves are … works of art , products of skill and a complex sense of fitness and of fitting-together . There is artistry both in their construction and in their placement . At their roughest , there is art in them , otherwise they would not stand .”
A dry-stack stone wall ’ s unique construction , which allows it to flex and bend with the earth during periods of warmth and frost , causes it to settle into itself , becoming stronger over time .
44 wander I spring • summer 2022