Walled In
Stone walls are pretty much New England. They are a way of life up here. They are relentless. Around here, if you look long and hard you'll see them everywhere. I've had friends from 'away' on their first visit to the area remark, "Who built all these walls?" This one is on our property nestled in the woods, and to be perfectly honest I had never really checked out this corner and the wall until a couple of weeks ago. Elenka pointed it out to me, and I ventured over. I do believe Robert Frost has captured the essence of the 'lives of walls' in his poem "Mending Wall". I can't help thinking of his words as I stroll along the rocks, or attempt to cross over one...
In these parts, farmers went for the stones, they found while clearing their land, long before they they looked to wood for fences to mark property lines.
"Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun,
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast..."
I love all the images in "The Mending Wall" and would certainly enjoy seeing some of those walls that inspired that crotchety old man. When the Berlin Wall came down several years ago I read the poem in an all school assembly and recall that time whenever I hear or read the poem.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have any old stone walls here at all. But there's a new building in a little village where the owner is nuts about then, I should go over one day and take some photos.
ReplyDeleteoh, i wish you did link-ups. a great one for good fences...
ReplyDeleteGiven all the rock walls I saw in England, I'd say it's a bit of the pioneer spirit that built many of those walls.
ReplyDeleteHow pretty! The walls are obviously more sturdy than fences since they have lasted so long.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful image, great quote and very interesting post!
ReplyDeleteI have a dream to someday build a stone wall.
ReplyDeleteLook at that big rectangular one on top!
This shot looks so fab when enlarged, gorgeous colours and shapes! You have a wood on your property?
ReplyDeleteI remember my first trip to New England - the Boston area, actually. Driving north, I was fascinated by all the stone walls. Love 'em. And you don't have to paint 'em.
ReplyDeleteYou must have a large property to have never explored that area in so long! It looks lovely and reminds me of the stone walls in England too.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the large stone reflects a moment when the builder felt frustrated the fence was taking so long to build.
ReplyDeleteSuch walls are a proof of the Genius of humanity . One can find stone walls everywhere in the world , they're all made with patience and cleverness, they match with all kinds of landscapes . i love old walls!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely, timeless image with an European feel to it!
ReplyDeleteStone walls were a good way to use the stones off the land so the early settlers could plow their fields. Here in Ontario the settlers often used uprooted tree trunks to mark their land boundaries. The stone walls last longer.
ReplyDeleteWe see them here and there in the countryside in Ontario. With all that rock in the ground, it was useful to use them once you dug them up out of the fields you wanted to sow, and so there were stone walls put up.
ReplyDeleteLove everything about this image!
ReplyDeleteBut then there's the bit about "good fences make good neighbors."
ReplyDeleteReminds me of Ireland.
Around here those stones are called "Sequim potatoes," rounded as they are from glacial sanding eons ago. But there are few stone walls. Settlers hereabouts were, I think, impatient to get on with it and it was quicker to build with the abundant local wood.
ReplyDeleteThis shot reminded me of seemingly endless stone walls in western Ireland...a beautiful sight, especially with little stone cottages and thatched roofs.
So beautiful. Love the rock wall,
ReplyDeleteMy grandparents house in Connecticut had stone walls on the property. They were all over the place.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a typical New England scene. Pretty.
ReplyDeleteI love these old walls!
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