Old stone walls have a story to tell

By Richard B. Primack

“The past is the canvas on which our idea is painted.” 

-Henry David Thoreau

Old stone walls running through Newton’s parks and conservation areas provide insights into the city’s agricultural past. In the 1700s and 1800s, much of the city’s land was used for growing crops and fruit trees, and raising domestic animals.

According to Robert Thorson, author of “Stone by Stone,” “The original property boundaries were likely wooden fences, with stones placed along the fences as farmers worked their fields.” Only in the early 19th century, when wood became scarce, did farmers build stone boundary walls.

Along a stone wall in Kennard Park on Dudley Road sits a four-sided enclosure 100 feet on a side, with a 40-foot gap. Was this a corral for sheep, with a gate in the gap?

A stacked stone wall takes a right angle turn in the Kennard Park.

Newton’s stone walls were hand-built with materials found nearby, sometimes using oxen. While most walls are built with stacked stones, in the Webster and Hammond Woods, large stones, some weighing over 1,000 pounds, are arranged in lines.

Massive stones form a wall, one at a time, in Webster Woods.

It is worthwhile to observe and appreciate these stone walls and contemplate their mysteries.

This post is based on a recent article in the Newton Tab.