Overview | Stone Wall Initiative

Shape-BasaltTRaprock — *Light and shadow on wall built entirely of columns of traprock (basalt lava flows) in Holyoke, MA. The columnar stones are laid across the wall like cordwood*.

The Stone Wall Initiative (SWI) is an online resource for those interested in the historic stone walls of New England. The SWI is coordinated by professor Robert M. Thorson, an advocate for their conservation and management, and a frequent public speaker on this topic for land trusts, historical societies, environmental non-profits, public libraries, and “friends of…” organizations. Though administrated through the the Connecticut State Museum of Natural History, the SWI is emphatically regional in scope, and supported by the University of Connecticut as a form of scholarly engagement.

Link to: Mission Goals History Contact

Acknowledgements: The content of this web site represents the collective work of many offices and individuals, most notably Kristine Thorson, who co-founded the SWI and continues to advise me on the topic. Jamison Judd of UCONN’s, NEAG School of Education, and Musa Jatkowski of the University Information Technology Service helped update this website.

Cute-FakeRockMoheganSun — *There’s an increasing use of fake-rock in New England, some of which is made of plastic resin sourced from petroleum residues.*