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(Sept. 11,
2008) Raw umbers, colbalt blues and deep sepia colors grace the field
stone collected from the old Emerick farm in Southern Pennsylvania.
These beautiful stones along with the slate, limestone and sandstone Brent
has gathered from Dan's Mountain are cheering from a "chimney grandstand"
overlooking Billy Goat Hollow.
Each rock tells a story. From the late 1800's when the Emerick family cleared land and stacked the stones to form a primitive stone wall, to a blue pillow-sized boulder that a Maryland mountain black bear turned over in search of tasty ants on a warm spring day. Gary, John and Bobbie are climbing higher into the sky to construct this amazing wall of art from Mother Earth's talus. The men set the stone in mortar, then delicately pick and brush it away giving the stonework, a "dry stack" look. Bob, our contractor is busy now working inside, on his signature fireplace facade. ;
; The Beginning |
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Brent gathered these stones 25 years ago from an old farm and orchard his family owned on Middle Ridge near Romney West Virginia. The rocks came from a barn foundation built in the 1800's. Decades of water dripping from the barn's tin roof created pock marks on the stone surface. Hopefully, Bob will incorporate them into his interior stone design. |
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10/10/08 The outside stone work is complete except for the stone slab that will be installed by a crane on the top of the chimney cornice. |
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11/14/08 The stone Brent found on top of Wolf's Ridge that a bear had turned over is the first stone resting on the arch's wooden form. Bob will place 5 additional arch stones on top of the form (see diagram) and then the final key stone in the middle. With a sludge hammer, he'll drive the key stone snuggly between the six sister stones and the arch will magically rise off the form and the form discarded. Sounds a bit Romanesque, don't you agree?? |
