Suggested Links

Wall at Old Manse, Concord, MA.

Below is an idiosynchratic mix of sites that relate to the objectives of the SWI.

STONE WALLS NATIONALLY:

The Stone Foundation, based in Santa Fe, New Mexico is diriected by Thomas Lipps. It's a great link to stone walls outside of the New England region. Professor Thorson will be speaking at their national meeting next Fall.

MASONRY:

The founder of Monterey Masonry, Mark Mendel invited me to help him conduct a two-day workshop in Stockbridge, MA, last October. I was impressed with the skill, sensitivity and care with which he treated both his stone and his students, one that will surely emerge from any work he does for a client.

PHOTOGRAPHY:

A new book will soon be out by the photographer William Hubbel. Called "Good Fences," it is being published by DownEast Books. Professor Thorson helped review this book, which adopts the language of his book Exploring Stone Walls.

After decades of professional photography the photographer Jack McConnell became "obsesssed" with stone walls. He now has a popular postcard book in stores nearly everywhere, and has done gallery shows on only stone walls. He is an on-again, off-again collaborator with with Professor Thorson, as time permits.

QUARRYSTONE

Know where your stone comes from. Was it stripmined from an old wall? Some quarries are are no more than staging areas where scavenged and stolen rock is sorted, high-graded, and sold to unsuspecting buyers. , Goshen Stone is one of the good guys out there. Their mica schist, after only a few years, as as good as it gets. There are plenty of good companies out there. Just beware of the bad ones.

LANDSCAPES FROM SPACE

The National Geophysical Data Center (NGDC) is a federally maintained archive of information about the nation's physical landscape From this site, you can find shaded relief maps of anywhere. Try picking a state, then zoom in on your town, then look at a color shaded relief map of its topography.

WHAT KIND OF ROCK IS THAT?

The best aceess is to go through your state's geological survey, which can be found from an alphabetical list at the Association of American State Geologists.