The first week in October, stonemasons began dismantling 240 feet of the stone wall in front of the library along Massachusetts Avenue, from the school crosswalk to the corner at Pond Road. And this week, a restored wall has emerged from the pile of fieldstones that the old wall, which dates from circa 1750, gave up.
The completion of this final third of the wall’s restoration was made possible by the Community Preservation Committee’s recommendation in January 2020, and Town Meeting’s vote in June, to grant $89,200 to the Harvard Historical Commission. The restoration of the wall has been an ongoing project since 2014, when Joe Schmidt of the Parks and Recreation Commission requested funds from the CPC. The improvements to this “sitting wall” are bound to be appreciated by fans attending field hockey and girls lacrosse games.
Eduardo Souza, local contractor and owner of Beyond Construction, whose company finished the last leg of the project, said, “Each rock has a face, its best side.” He described his process of building a stone wall as like “making a puzzle.”
He added: “First you have a bunch of rocks and you focus more and more intensely on fitting them together, till after a while, the mind gets tired and you stop seeing how the rocks will fit. Then, you have to go away and do something else. When you come back you can see the rocks’ faces again and how they fit together.”
But it’s not completely intuitive; there are rules. Souza explained that the first rule is digging a deep trench, because the same frost line that heaved up the stones in the first place must be dealt with. Then the largest stones are laid in for the footer. In placing the smaller stones above the footer, Souza “breaks the joints”; that is, he overlaps the stones so there are no long vertical gaps. Orange strings are stretched along the top and sides, guiding the 2-foot width and height precisely.
The old fieldstones and rubble foundation of the original wall were reused in reconstructing this two-wythe wall (a continuous length of two vertical walls side by side), bound together with concrete and mortar, and topped with 2-foot-wide granite capstones, as specified in the project’s contract. The wall has the same dimensions as the old wall, except that the break at the crosswalk has been widened by 2 feet to allow emergency vehicles to get through. Also, the end of the wall at Pond Road has been redesigned for safer traffic flow around the corner.
Walking the walls
From that corner of the field, I walked along the wall, observing how the stones contrast and blend, noting the variety of shapes, colors, and patterns, following the lines where the stones join, sensing a rhythm and balance; touching the textures, studying up close and at a distance, trying to start up a conversation with these hard, mute faces. The newly restored portion of the wall is flat and precise on the sides and top. From the stone columns on either side of the opening, I moved on to the section that was restored about five years ago by Joe Blue, a stonemason whose family has lived in town for generations. There, the stones are smaller and speckled, but tightly jointed with the cement, invisible, as in Souza’s construction.
After crossing the school driveway, I walked along the cemetery wall facing Massachusetts Avenue. Lichen cast a green and yellow haze on the different types of rock, displaying various textures and colors. The sizes of the stones range from pebble size to large blocks that may have been quarried. Mortar has been generously slathered. A few plants grow in cracks.
It’s been said that in the ’70s and ’80s, this wall was a popular teenage hangout. I turned around at the General Store and walked back to the corner of the cemetery. The side of the cemetery is walled in with rocks and boulders, grey with lichen. Since this part has no capstones, you can see the tops of the two wythes.
I crossed the driveway toward the big painted rock and walked the asphalt path that leads to the back of the library, where stone has been used to create a world of imagination. A spiral pattern is embedded in the stone terrace, surrounded by a rock wall, expansive views, and diversions.
At Pond Road, I meandered along the inside edge of the field lined with tumbled stones and boulders, returning to the corner where my ramble began.
Further reading
- “The Harvard Album,” by Dianne M. Newton, Harvard Historical Society. A photo on page 50 shows a stone wall in front of the Bromfield mansion that burned in 1855.
- www.harvard.ma.us/community-preservation-committee. Explains the role of the Community Preser- vation Committee and how it’s structured.
- “Joe Blue, a wall builder ‘born to stone,’” by Carlene Phillips, Harvard Press, April 16, 2015.
- “CPC grants money for conservation land, stone wall, tennis court and more,” by Marty Green, Harvard Press, Jan. 30, 2020.
- “Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England’s Stone Walls,” by Robert M. Thorson, Walker and Company, New York. vailable at the Harvard Public Library.
- www.stonewall.uconn.edu, the website of the Stone Wall Initiative, a free public service provided by Robert M.Thorson, with a focus on New England.
- “Conversation with a Stone” (poem) by Wislawa Szymborska.
