It is August in New England. I walk the meadow bordered by stone walls. With the heat of summer, my mind wanders to the approaching fall, perhaps it will arrive sooner than expected. It is not summer that I wish away, it is the approaching fall I anticipate. The refreshing relief from the heat of summer, the bountiful harvest, festivals, colorful foliage and of course the sweet taste of greatly anticipated pumpkin flavored coffee. Fall is New England and New England is fall.
When we picture iconic scenes depicting the autumn season, our thoughts always return to New England. There are so many symbols of fall, but my thoughts now return to my walk in the meadow. The meadow bordered by stone walls.
Our little town, as well as our entire state of New Hampshire, is a haven for stones. Simply a product of glacial geology to some but more to others. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there was a surge of planting crops that required our colonial era farmers to cut down the trees in the forest, remove the many stones and plow the fields in preparation for planting.
There are many miles of stone walls crossing our region — it is reported an estimated 240,000 miles of stone walls in fact. But why do we have stone walls while other parts of the country do not? The beauty of a stone wall speaks volumes and has inspired many a poet in New Hampshire.
When the early farmers in all of New England established their homes there were basic needs that had to be met: shelter, water, clothing and food being of the essence. Winter visits each year and the need to prepare for the approaching winter arrives early each spring. Our ancestors harvested the old forest timbers and constructed their functional cabins. These homes were likely located within walking distance of ponds, streams, lakes and rivers to provide water. The fields that were initially cleared for timber to provide for the construction of early homes and firewood became the locations of the fields where crops would be planted. But it was the stones that were both a blessing and a curse.
The stones were literally everywhere. Once the forest was cleared the stones were numerous. Some of the initial stones taken from the surface were used to build fireplaces for heat and cooking while some areas were so very abundant with stones the farmers also built homes or other primitive dwellings. As the planting and harvesting seasons passed, the process of frost and warming repeatedly brought new stones to the surface of the planting fields. Hence the old adage about the old farmers best crops being the stones his fields produced.
As the initial clearing was completed and each spring only produced more stones in need of clearing, a simple tradition began. Quite unrehearsed and certainly not planned, our beautiful stone walls began to materialize across New England. Logical thinking Yankee farmers centuries ago would clear the stones and pile them in a designated area on their property. Each spring the pile would grow in size with the addition of new stones from the planting fields. After the planting season was completed and summer chores were addressed the farmer always worked the stone pile sensibly and diligently.
The Yankee farmer would visit his field stone pile many times over the course of the summer and remove the stones from the master pile. The farmer would then transport each and every stone to his property line establishing a boundary in a manner for his property. These stones slowly became the dry-laid stone walls we see to this very day.
Some farmers were a little more practical while other farmers were a bit more creative. The stone walls were along the property boundary with additional interior stone walls that were used to keep livestock within bounds on the farmers property. There were other farmers that intentionally set their stone walls in scenic areas with mountain and valley views. I have walked many miles along stone walls in New Hampshire over the past decades. I have discovered some interesting patterns and creative additions such as stones placed in a manner creating a bench for seating with a view.
Decades have now changed as the seasons have too. The old time Yankee farmers from our past are no longer with us. They have left their signature on our land, creative stone walls crisscrossing our communities, our towns and our state as well as all over New England.
We now sit upon these stone walls and absorb all that is good. We find inspiration and peace contained in the walls that surround us. Stones walls simply present poetry and verse.
As Robert Frost wrote in his poem “Mending Wall” many years ago, “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.”
Frost further stated “Good fences make good neighbors.” These spoken words are few but are heavy with wisdom. Especially when read on an autumn day seated upon a stone wall at the edge of my meadow.