Sermons in Stone: The Stone Walls of New England and New York

What do we actually know about stone walls? about the people who built them, and why? Stone walls are not simply monuments to the skill of Yankee farmers. The historical record makes clear that many were built by slaves, Indians, indentured servants, and children.Sermons in Stone is the surprising and illuminating history of the walls, a story that begins in the Ice Age and that has been shaped by the fencing dilemmas of the nineteenth century, by conflicts between Native Americans and colonists over land use, by American waves of immigration and suburbanization."Who would think that a history of that humble workaday structure, the stone wall, would be so full of the fascinating, the peculiar, the downright eccentric? But here it is, laid out in a sprightly style and beautifully illustrated by the ink drawings of David Howell." --Dallas Morning News… (more)

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LibraryThing member imsodion

Sermons in Stone by Susan Allport is the enthralling story of all those stone walls that are everywhere in New England. Susan Allport is that fascinating teacher that you would follow right off a cliff. She weaves a story that involves a maze of players like Vikings, French, economics, naughty

cows, glaciers, where are the trees - the list goes on and on and on. If you are from New England, have been to New England, no someone that lives in New England, for me, Sermons in Stone should be in every library and every self respecting Yankee will find this book to be one of the family treasures. I adored it and highly recommend the book - can you tell? And it is a very easy and enjoyable read. Born and raised in North Attleboro, MA and currently a 40 year 'native' of Los Angeles, CA.

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