Standing firm against time...
The three stone walls my father built at the edge of our front lawn nearly 60 years ago!
As prefaced in a previous memoir, “A Change of Scenery”: For good and/or bad, the passage of time changes the scenery of our landscape, altering its design and perspective on life.
At approximately the same time frame this October as last year, my mother and I embarked on a scenic drive through our former hometown of Lincoln, Rhode Island. The route may have differed, but invariably, we passed by the one-level, five-room ranch on Angell Road where my sister and I grew up. My father’s uncle and his crew custom-built our home in 1957. The tiled kitchen had—operative word, “built-in”— stainless steel oven and kitty-corner, knotty pine hutch.
Back then, our nearest neighbor was about a half-mile up the bumpy, narrow winding road. Though many more opulent homes have sprung up along new offshoots of roads, the terrain along Angell Road is still in a rut.
In 1962, my father built three stone walls at the edge of our front lawn, not so much for a boundary line, though they certainly contained and defined our property. But, rather to serve as retaining walls to obstruct the devastating effects of run-off and erosion that accompanied heavy downpours. A part-time project my father engaged in after work and during weekends, this summer endeavor stretched into autumn. His venture evolved into an obsession which recruited the labor force of my mother, sister, and me to gather stones.
As of today, those three stone walls still hold their ground, having withstood the pummeling of hurricanes, blizzards, and a tornado that touched down on Angell Rd., October 23, 2018. Only now, the walls are overpowered by untamed shrubbery practically obscuring them from view.
Although the neglect saddened and disappointed both of us, the change hadn’t altered their design or our perspective on life. These resilient relics are still a testament to my father’s determination and skill.
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never stop writing!
m
When I bought my cottage on Cheat Lake in West Virginia, built before the lake in 1928 in 1975, it had a round river stone fireplace and chimney two stories tall and flagstone retaining walls on both the upper side of the property and on the lower side of property that ran for about 150 yards. In some places, the longer, upper wall was over 6 feet. The lower wall was shorter and only about 3 feet high. I lived there three years and don't recall a single stone that came out of place. An amazing amount of work went into making those walls and they probably are still intact today, 90 years after they were painstakingly built.
Ron
Sandie