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Fieldstone is a naturally occurring type of stone, which lies at or near the surface of the Earth. Fieldstone is a nuisance for farmers seeking to expand their land under cultivation, but at some point it began to be used as a
construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...
material. Strictly speaking, it is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally. Collections of fieldstones which have been removed from arable land or pasture to allow for more effective
agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people ...
are called clearance cairns. In practice, fieldstone is any
architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...
stone used in its natural shape and can be applied to stones recovered from the
topsoil Topsoil is the upper layer of soil. It has the highest concentration of organic matter and microorganisms and is where most of the Earth's biological soil activity occurs. Description Topsoil is composed of mineral particles and organic matt ...
or
subsoil Subsoil is the layer of soil under the topsoil on the surface of the ground. Like topsoil, it is composed of a variable mixture of small particles such as sand, silt and clay, but with a much lower percentage of organic matter and humus, and ...
. Although fieldstone is generally used to describe such material when used for exterior walls, it has come to include its use in other ways including
garden A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...
features and interiors. It is sometimes cut or split for use in architecture.


Glacial deposition

Fieldstone is common in soils throughout temperate latitudes due to glacial deposition. The type of field stones left through
glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate bet ...
, are known as glacial erratics. In Canada and the northern United States, the advance of the
Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million year ...
pulverized bedrock, and its retreat deposited several dozen meters of unsorted till in previously glaciated areas as far south as
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and the
Upper Midwest The Upper Midwest is a region in the northern portion of the U.S. Census Bureau's Midwestern United States. It is largely a sub-region of the Midwest. Although the exact boundaries are not uniformly agreed-upon, the region is defined as referring ...
. Although a coarse layer of glacial ablation would settle on top of the deeper lodgment till, it was these more deeply set stones that would prove a persistent challenge for settled human agriculture because they would be frost-churned into surface soils during harsh winters. Large collections of fieldstone can be found at the edge of the last glacial period, also known as the Wisconsin Glaciation. These edges are known as terminal moraines. Large deposits are found at the end of these glacial advances. In the northeastern United States, field stone buildings and walls abound.


Fieldstones and human settlement

Settled agriculture requires relatively fine and uniform soils for intensive use, and large rocks pose additional risks for agricultural machinery, which they can damage if not removed. Because the stones are widely disseminated, removing fieldstone is a widespread and costly activity in early agricultural settlement. To prepare fields for cultivation, farmers need to remove these stones, which requires significant manual labor. Until the 19th century, fieldstone was removed exclusively by hand, often with whole families participating in this task. Depending on the harshness of winters, this task needed to be repeated whenever frost levels churned new stones into soil surfaces. Thus, land with many fieldstones was and is considered marginal and is assessed for tax purposes well below land that is considered stone-free. In mechanized agriculture, fieldstone is usually removed by a tractor attachment called a
rock picker Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
. A chain-driven wheel rotates a graded scoop, picking surface rocks from the soil, and shakes off excess soil. A hydraulic lift then tilts and empties the rock bucket, usually along the perimeter of the farm. Washed and split, field rock is considered an attractive landscape and building material, and can be expensive at building supply stores.


In New England

Fieldstone became abundant throughout
New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...
and Eastern Canada as European settlers began to clearcut forests for timber, wood fuel, and agricultural expansion. Although settled agriculture and timber extraction began as early as 1620 in coastal areas, large-scale clear-cutting began in the late 18th century with increased immigration and inland settlement. Fuel and material demands led to the near-complete deforestation of the region. Cleared soils were subject to deeper freezing, which caused frost-churned stones to rise to the soil surfaces. When the virgin land was tilled, the fields were littered with rocks. Abundant and not as portable or versatile as other fencing materials, these stones were moved to the edges of fields and stacked into stone walls, for which New England is now well known. Each spring, the
stone walls Stone walls are a kind of masonry construction that has been used for thousands of years. The first stone walls were constructed by farmers and primitive people by piling loose field stones into a dry stone wall. Later, mortar and plaster ...
were extended when the fields were plowed, as more stones were brought to the surface following the winter freeze and the spring thaw. Most such walls were stacked between 1775 and 1825, but efforts to repair and extend them continued throughout the 19th century. According to an 1871 agricultural census, more than of fieldstone walls were constructed throughout the region, representing 40 million days of human labor. As agricultural production moved westward, areas of New England have since reforested.


On the High Plains

Fieldstone occurs extensively on the
High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...
. On or near the surface, fieldstones come in many colors, and are limited in size to about 4 feet in diameter, although larger rocks are sometimes recovered. Pretty and colorful, fieldstones are used occasionally as building materials; some of the more stately homes on the Prairies are constructed of fieldstone and are over a century old. However, fieldstone as a building material is very much underused.


Gallery

File:JChaddsHouse.JPG, Chad House,
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, United States File:Feldsteinhaus 2.JPG, Fieldstone house in
Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
File:19th_Century_Fieldstone_Barn_in_Southern_Ontario,_Canada.jpg, Fieldstone barn in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. File:MillRaceVillage3NorthvilleMichigan.jpg, Fieldstone building in
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...
, United States File:Fieldstone Wall Pennsylvania.jpg, A fieldstone wall enclosing a
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
barnyard File:Inisheer Gardens 2002 dry-stone walls.jpg, Dry-stone walls built of fieldstones on Inisheer, Ireland File:Fieldstone.jpg, Pavilion constructed of fieldstone in
Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
, United States File:Stone house Spain01.jpg, Fieldstone house in
León, Spain León (; ) is a city and municipality of Spain, capital of the province of León, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León, in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. It has a population of 124,303 (2019), by far the largest munici ...
File:Remington House, Kinne Corners, NY, US.jpg, Remington House (Kinne Corners, New York) File:CWA Leonidas Stone School Front of building from Drone.png, Leonidas Stone School,(Leonidas, Michigan) File:St. Augustine Catholic Church and Cemetery (Trenton, Wisconsin) September 2013 02.jpg, Mortared fieldstone of St. Augustine Catholic Church in Trenton, Wisconsin.


See also

* Dry-stone wall *
Earl Young (architect) Earl A. Young (March 31, 1889 – May 24, 1975) was an American architectural designer, realtor, and insurance agent. Over a span of 52 years, he designed and built 31 structures in Charlevoix, Michigan, but was never a registered architect. He ...
* Stone wall *
Stonemasonry Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, ...
*
Architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...


References

{{Authority control Building stone Stonemasonry Stone (material)