Twenty years after Van de Water’s death in 1968 I was asked, by the new owners of the property, to build a stone wall there. I gathered and moved enough loose stone from fieldstone dumps on the farmstead to fashion an 80’ length of decorative fence. The innovation I employed for the project was to erect convex batter frames to create wall faces with curved slopes. Twenty-seven years later, visiting the wall for the first time since it was built, I see that it has held up well. My idea to splay out the foundation stones turned out to be a good trick for stabilizing the structure in the long term. Time is the test of dry stone work. Wallers build with the faith that their skill in the craft will see the work through. I’m heartened when I see ancient stoneworks still standing tall and I’m proud of those I’ve built that continue the tradition.

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