Appreciation

Unusual natural colors of a rock surface in Acadia National Park. The pink (center) is the original alkaline granite, the orange to black is metal oxide (rust), the white sulphate residue, and the greens are metamorphic minerals.

There’s more to a historic wall than first meets the eye.  Each is a library of earthen books with geological and historical stories to tell.  Each is a work of art full of color and pattern.  Each is an archaeological artifact too big for a museum.  There’s shape and pattern, both artistically and mathematically.  There’s habitat and food for plants, critters and microbes.  And there’s the fun of exploring them in space and time.

The first step toward conservation of New England’s historic stone walls is for residents, voters and landowners to appreciate them.  Many do already, and can gain more appreciation by closer inspection.  Please think twice before cutting one apart for a driveway, or strip-mining one for its stone.

You can enhance your appreciation by:

 

Massive granite wall from Center Sandwich, NH. The sand beaches of New England are made of this rock crushed.
Massive granite wall from Center Sandwich, NH. The sand beaches of New England are made of such material crushed from stone by a moving ice sheet and washed southward by its meltwater.