If there’s one thing we have plenty of here in New Hampshire it is stones, and you can hardly walk a mile even in the deepest woods without seeing a wall built with them. Though there are many types of stone walls the most common in this area are “tossed walls.” Farmers worked from dawn to dusk in Colonial New England and tossed walls required the least amount of time and effort because smaller stones were literally tossed or thrown on top of one another. In the early years getting rid of the plentiful stones quickly and efficiently was more important than enclosing the fields and boy, did famers get rid of them. In 1872 there were an estimated 270,000 miles of stone walls in New England. Today these masses of stone collect a lot of heat from the sun and snow melts from them quickly, leaving perfect places to explore in the winter.
I can remember when I was a young boy reading a book (by Beatrix Potter I think) which showed a painting of a stone house. The stones were all colors including blue, orange and yellow, so I knew right off that whoever wrote this dumb old book had never seen anything built of stone. Why, everybody knew that stones were gray! As I grew older and started paying closer attention to the world around me I realized once again that I didn’t know what I was talking about because, as whoever illustrated that book knew, stones could indeed come in many colors. The orange yellow color in this example comes from sulfur firedot lichens (Caloplaca flavovirescens.)
An even brighter yellow is found on stones colored by sulfur dust lichens (Chrysothrix chlorina). This lichen doesn’t like to be rained on so it is usually found hiding under some type of overhang.
Stones can be green when covered by a carpet of moss. This stone was too big for three men to carry and wore the biggest patch of Hedwigia ciliata moss that I’ve seen.
The white leaf tips drawn out to long, fine points help confirm the identity of Hedwigia ciliata moss.
Sometimes stones don’t need any help from lichens to show their colors as this orange granite shows. Granite comes in many colors, including red, brown, pink, blue-gray, black, and white. Often though, over the years the wall stones will weather to a uniform gray before the lichens move in and lend their colors to the wall.
My grandfather was the town blacksmith for years in Westmoreland, New Hampshire so I always look for old wrought iron hardware in stone walls. This photo shows an old iron hitching ring for a horse, which its reins would have been passed through to keep it from running off. Why the landowner wanted to hitch his horse to this exact spot in the wall is a mystery. Maybe it was shaded at one time.
This chain hook was my favorite find during this walk. A link from a chain would have been hooked over it and then another link hooked over a similar hook a certain distance away. Chains were (and are) often hung across roads or driveways as a way to say “no admittance.” What I like about this example is the way the blacksmith tapered the hook over its length and finally ended it in what looks like a dragon’s tail. He didn’t have to do any of that because this was something that would have hardly ever been seen and it meant more time and effort, but he had the skill and used it and took pride in his work. I also like the Cumberland rock shield lichens growing all over the stone.
Cumberland rock shield lichens (Xanthoparmelia cumberlandia) have cinnamon to dark brown fruiting bodies, called apothecia, where spores are produced. They produce spores quite regularly so it is always worth stopping to get a closer look. The curled margins of the apothecia cups are helpful with identification.
Squirrels and chipmunks choose the flattest stones to have their lunch on, which in this case consisted of white pine (Pinus strobus) seeds.
Plain old gray lichens are plentiful and easy to walk by without a second look, but you might be missing something quite fascinating if you do.
This is a close up look at the gray lichen in the previous photo. I think it’s a barnacle lichen (Thelotrema lepadinum.) The darker bits are its apothecia. It looks like some kind of alien landscape.
Many plants hug stone walls for the winter warmth given off by the stones and protection from mower blades. Everything from lowly mosses to towering trees can be found along these old walls.
Many ferns release their spores in the fall and if you want to see how it all works all you need to do is follow a stone wall, because there are sure to be ferns growing along it. This example shows the many sori (clusters of spore producing sporangia) on the underside of a marginal wood fern (Dryopteris marginalis.) Thicker cells on one side of the sourus create tension as it ages and dries out, and causes its cover (indusium) to burst open and release its spores. These burst indusia can be seen in several places in this photo. Not all ferns have covered sori; some, like the polypody fern’s (Polypodium vulgare,) are naked.
In this region white pine trees are common and they (or their stumps) are especially common along stone walls. Old, rotting pine stumps are great places to look for mosses and lichens.
New Hampshire was nearly 150 years old when the Revolutionary War began and though no battles were fought here we still have our British soldiers- in the form of lichens (Cladonia cristatella). These were found on the base of the old white pine stump in the previous photo.
Like a negative to a photograph, stone walls are most visible when life is most invisible. Typically this occurs in January when snow frames the wall from bottom to top and when the strengthening, crystal-clear sun casts strong shadows. ~Robert M. Thorson
Thanks for stopping in.
I’m very curious about lichens and love stone walls. I love your photos and identifications. It’s nice to know others spend time being dazzled by these things.
Thank you Becky. Yes, I like finding lichens too and usually do a few lichen posts over the winter.
UNHEARD MARKSMAN
Silently shouting
Life shoots ingeniously
And unquenchably
Thank you Ben. There’s no stopping it, even if we wanted to.
Thanks for the inspiration. 🙂
A lovely walk along a stone wall. Perhaps here is something man-made that has created a different eco-system that has not been harmful to nature. The wall must be home to so many individuals (I am including plants and fungi). Amelia
Thank you Amelia. I don’t think stone walls had too much of an impact on nature. They certainly gave chipmunks a place to play, and yes other insects animals and reptiles call them home.
What an interesting post. Here most of the stone walls are medieval ones and I love looking at them.
I’d bet that they have some amazing lichens on them!
Funnily enough there aren’t too many. I think it’s because they’re so near the sea. I don’t think lichen like salt air.
That could be.
All of those stone walls are a real treasure there, for both their history and their ecology.
They are. I can’t imagine what it would be like without them.
These photos are beautiful, I love it when nature takes over everything, even rocks! I wish I had such a magic landscape to take walks 🙂
Thank you Lily. You can find a lot of nature even in suburban parking lots, so getting out there is always worth the effort.
Love the stone wall and all the stones, cool looking soldier lichens too!
Merry Christmas Allen to you and your family!
Michael
http://instagram.com/michaelswoodcraft
Thanks Michael, and Merry Christmas to you and the family too!
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays and commented:
Wow!! I love the colors, texture, the close up views .. Allen, thank you so much. You did a wonderful and lovely post. Namaste
You’re welcome Agnes. I’m glad you liked it!
Only you could go for a walk along a stone wall and turn it into such an informative post with plenty of photos of nature’s beauty!
But, you had help, all those people who did the work of making 270,000 miles of stone walls, and the blacksmiths that hammered out the wrought iron fittings. I’ve done a little of both, so I know how much work went into making both the walls and the fittings. I’m sure that my efforts paled in comparison on both counts. 😉
Thanks Jerry! As you know, you don’t have to go far to find some amazing things out there. I’ve never done any blacksmithing but I’ve built a few walls and it’s hard not to admire the people who did all this with nothing but their hands.
Very impressive soldier lichens.
I thought so too!
NHG: What an interesting post! All those stones! Who knew?! MCS
Thank you Mary. That really is a lot of stone and frost heaves just keep bringing more up out of the ground, so I don’t think we’ll ever run out.
270,000 miles of walls. Wow. Thanks for an interesting, beautiful post.
You’re welcome Judy. That’s enough stone to circle the equator just over 100 times!
It is hard to imagine all the work that went into those 270,000 miles of stone wall with no modern equipment. It’s no wonder lifespans were much shorter back then.
Thank Laura. That’s true, nothing can wear your body out quicker than throwing stone around. I used to build stone walls, and that’s why today I sit in a chair at a desk. It’s incredibly hard work and two experienced men could only lay about 10 feet of wall in a day.
Wonderful walk with you today! I have always wondered why there are so many stone walls that don’t seem to define property and a certainly to low to contain farm animals. Love the shots of the iron work pieces as they add mystery to the tale of the wall.
Thank you Martha. The oldest stone walls are actually refuse piles put there simply to get rid of the stone but many were built on boundary lines and do define the old land borders. The main thing was to first get the land cleared so they could plant crops, and then later on they built bigger, sturdier walls to contain livestock. I always like finding that old wrought iron. It tells a lot about the people who worked the land.
I always enjoy and learn from your posts, but this one is special because rock walls are so beautiful and call to us because of their history. Love the British soldiers. 🙂
Thank you Judy. Anyone who lives in New England is very familiar with old stone walls and probably doesn’t have to go too far to find one. I always enjoy walking along them to see what I’ll find because you just never know.
Beautiful photography, Allen. I enjoyed looking at the iron-work, especially the dragon-tail hook, and the wonderful close-ups of the lichen and sori.
Thank you Clare. It’s amazing what you can find along these old walls. A lot of history and beauty, all in one place.
What a great post Allan. I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the mini-ecosystem of your granite walls and I’m looking forward to the next instalment. Suggestions: following an upland stream, road verges (but don’t get run over taking the photos), bare mountain top, fallen dead wood and stumps …
Don’t get me wrong I enjoy your “what I’ve seen” posts as well but a theme like this makes imagining being there even easier.
Thanks Jim. You’re reading my mind, I think. I’ve got a post coming up about what I found along a stream recently. I’ve never thought of road verges though-good idea!
That was a very good theme for a walk l, I loved the hook made by a man who took pride in his work. What a legacy to leave behind.
Thank you Susan. We’ll probably never know who he was but I really admire his work!
Thank you for my morning walk…here it is cold and rainy so you have lifted my spirits for the day….and I really like the last picture I’ve never seen anything like it…Thanks again.
You’re welcome Sue. We’ve had cloudy skies for two weeks now but today the sun is shining, so things are looking up. British soldier lichens are common on rotting logs and stumps.