Click on this photo to see it in the note cards/prints gallery.This casually stacked old, field-stone wall ambles across a classic New England farm demarcating fields. The stone selection and placement appears somewhat ad hoc, but beautifully so. Gaps, between smaller rocks toward the top of this jumble and larger rocks beneath them, let daylight penetrate the upper courses, almost cheerfully defying the mass of the wall. It lumbers along performing its function while inspiring awe. It reflects an artful intervention of human will on a weighty natural material. The appeal is almost visceral. For more insight into the art of working with stone take a look at Dan Snow’s In the Company of Stone and Lew French’s Stone by Design.

by Katie Hutchison for the House Enthusiast