hardscapes # 2 ~ everybody must get stoned
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 10:03AM 
Cobblestone building - somewhere along Rt. 5 & 20, Central NYS • click to embiggenWhen we got off the interstate highway this past Sunday, the wife & I headed for Rt. 5 & 20 which was, pre-interstate, the major east-west highway in NYS. As mentioned, the wife and I just wanted to slow down, relax, and see what we could see.
One of the things I was hoping to see was cobblestone structures - houses, mills, stores, et al. There are cobblestone structures in NYS than anywhere else on the planet and a ride across Rt. 5 & 20 cuts right through the heart of cobblestone country. It is estimated that 95% of all cobblestone structures ever built (about 700 of them) were built in NYS, primarily in central and western NY.
Cobblestones where everywhere in this region (glacial deposits) and the early farmers, after clearing them from their fields, started to use them as cheap (as in, free) building material. Although, one might think that the cost of labor by specialized cobblestone masons might have raised the total cost of a building above that of a conventional wood-frame building. However, on the plus side, was the fact that a cobblestone building was quite a bit more fireproof than a wood-frame one.
The sign on the building pictured here reads ...
WAGONS•HARNESS•BLACKSMITH•HORSES SHOD
EST 1844 LOCHLIEN McQUIEN PROP
... which means that this cobblestone structure was built in the middle years of the cobblestone building era which spanned the years 1825 - 1860. It is now an antique shop.
Reader Comments (2)
I like cobblestone.
Interesting. I've recently been photographing in Norfolk, Engalnd where a significant number of the parish churches (from about the same period) are of combblestone construction. Unlike the more contemporaneous look to the building you show, thee churches look more like Norman structures (ca. 11th cent.).