About Me

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Recent retiree--35 year's experience teaching reading, English, adult basic education and volunteer leadership skills. Started this blog to exchange ideas and commentary with friends and others having an interest in joining the discussions. Greatest life accomplishments include: 1.organized my 3rd grade class to check out library books for me to get around librarian's weekly limit--Amazon.com, the Mullins Elementary 3rd Grade Class of 1956 is still waiting for "thank you" notes; 2. volunteered in the Peace Corps, island of St. Kitts, West Indies; 3.taught adults to read, earn their GEDs., and speak English as a second language; 4. bought a border collie puppy for $6, got evicted rather than give him up, and began a life-long love affair with all things "Dog"; 5. joined a physical fitness boot camp in my mid-50s--don't mess with someone who's been doing regulation pushups in wet grass at 5:30 a.m.; 6. walked across Northern England with best friend Sally--over 80 miles from the Irish to North Seas; and 7. travelled to many foreign countries for pleasure and work.

Friday, October 14, 2011

Friday Fences - Dry Stone Fences of Kentucky


This dry stone fence is on a thoroughbred horse farm in the central part of Kentucky--or better known as the Bluegrass Region. Stone fences, many of them over a hundred years old, are quite common in Kentucky and were first built by Scots-Irish immigrants to the state. The fences, sometimes called walls, get the name "dry stone" because they are built with no mortar, using limestone rocks and boulders collected from land cleared for agriculture. The fences are built from the ground up,usually in two courses side by side to get the sufficient strength. Stacks of rock are joined with longer flattish rocks that span two stacks. Gaps in the course are "chunked" with smaller rocks. Here's a closeup:


Friday Fences is a new meme hosted by my good blog friend Janis at Life According to Jan and Jer . Go there to sign up or check out the fences shared by other players.

14 comments:

Sandra's Scribbles said...

I love the way this stone wall looks like it has a border on top.

penny said...

Talk about backbreaking work.. but it is a beautiful and enduring fence the will stand the test of time.

I love it Faye, nice shots.

hugs,
Pam

Roan said...

Love these stone fences. In the mid 70's we lived in a house in Sumner County Tennessee that had one of these all along the lane,about 1/4 mile. I can't imagine the backbreaking labor required to build them. Very nice shot!

Jan n Jer said...

Can you believe the Artwork of these stone fences. So fascinating to me. Great shots Faye...thanx for playing!

Wayne said...

I love these old 'fences'. I was not aware they were built by Scotch-Irish immigrants. Chester County, PA was a popular spot for the S-I the settle and there are lots of these fences in that area - makes sense!

I'm not sure who had the special fence around their grave stone. I'll check if I'm in the area, it's a very peaceful place.

Carletta said...

Lovely perspective!
In places where the land yields so much rock it only makes sense to use it wisely.
This fence looks like it could have come out of the English countryside.
Nice to meet you Faye! :)

TexWisGirl said...

i SO want fences like these! sadly, not enough rocks to even begin one here in Texas! plus our ground would crack and heave too much to support them, i'm afraid! GORGEOUS! and SO much work!!!

TexWisGirl said...

(and you still have the most gorgeous smile!) :)

Tina´s PicStory said...

beautiful stone fence :)

Judy said...

Stone fences are so fascinating to me, such hard work went into making them.

Bruce Clark said...

Very interesting design of the stonewall. The wall toppers are very interesting.

Tracy said...

I love the stone wall look. I don't think I'd have the patience to build one myself, though. Great shot and good info.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

That dry stone wall is a work of art. It must have taken months to put that together.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful... Fences typically were made out of what was at hand... love that!