The things we take for granite
By adamg - 10/9/11 - 11:42 am
Kevin Edgecomb recently moved from Berkeley to Brookline, to get a master's in divinity at the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology. He writes about his first impressions of the school and the surrounding area, including nearby Jamaica Plain (the school is close to Jamaica Pond):
[I]ts Berkeleyesque, but the architecture is much more interesting. Old New England houses really look like proper houses to me. It must be a childhood thing (I was born in Manchester, NH, just north of here a bit). One of the neatest things is that the curbstones are granite, not concrete. And there are huge stone walls everywhere. Somebody has done a lot of stonecutting around here! It’s a nice touch, these giant chunks of granite everywhere as curbs.
Comments
The granite one sees . . .
. . . used as curbs or in some parts of Boston- sidewalk itself (Broad Street for example)- come from New Hampshire- more than likely Hudson. As for the stone walls- the height of stone wall building in New England was later than most people think. It really got into full swing from about 1775 to 1850. New England soil was not at first "rocky". It took time for these loose stones to travel to the surface after the first decades of mass cultivation after colonization. Most early New England farms were enclosed by wooden fences at first. Only when timber became scarce and the yearly chore (performed almost entirely by children) of "stone harvesting" became a tradition did stone wall construction really begin to take off- and they range from crude line piles to neat straight walls for those that could afford a wall mason.
The stone walls he seems to
The stone walls he seems to be referring to are in Brookline and Jamaica Plain. As such, they have nothing to do with the typical New England stone walls of farm and pasture. That area is glacial sand and gravel, with puddingstone bedrock outcrops. The kind of stones that were collected and went into walls at boundary lines didn't exist there. The puddingstone that is used in walls and buildings in Brookline and JP was either quarried on site or nearby. The earliest such walls I'm aware of are mid-late 19th Century.
Good info . .
. .n/t
Good info from you as well,
Good info from you as well, CD.
Reversed
Back in July, I moved from Watertown to San Francisco. I can't deny how amazing the Bay Area is, and what a feast it is for the eyes. But I have to say, having lived in JP and having grown up in Massachusetts, I am REALLY missing the fall this year. Although, even though I won't have to travel far to see snow this winter, I'll be glad it won't be falling at my doorstep.
Don't worry
This is our third day of over 80 degrees! We might find our fall to be lacking in fall color as well.
Enjoy it while you can . . .
. . . it was a great weekend and if you can play a little hooky today- you should. Got months of well less than 80 ahead.
sunny days and cool nights
actually tend to enhance fall colors (particularly reds and purples), not dilute them.