Arch Bridge Workshops

There may not be a more challenging project to tackle in dry stone than an arch bridge construction. It combines wet conditions, sloped ground, geometry, carpentry and precise shaping and placement of stones.

While there remain, across New England, examples of stream-vaulting bridges built more than 100 years ago, the builders of those spans have long since left us. That’s why it’s particularly poignant that The Stone Trust’s recent tour of historic dry stone bridges coincided with the construction of a new one.

Four days of workshops brought instructors, participants and volunteers together on a property in southern New Hampshire. Local quarry stone was shifted, shaped and set into abutment walls, springers and voussoirs, leaving a unique feature on the land. It was a privilege to be part of an effort that adds to the legacy of dry stone arch bridges in New England.

Thanks go out to The Stone Trust for putting on a fabulous program and to everyone who contributed to its success.


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