Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England's Stone Walls [Paperback]

Robert M. Thorson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2005

The only field guide to stone walls in the Northeast.

"Every stone wall is unique and every stone tells a story," says Robert M. Thorson, the author of the first field guide to historic New England stone walls-- one that helps you identify and appreciate those in your yard, neighborhood, and throughout the Northeast.

Exploring Stone Walls is like being in Thorson's geology classroom, as he presents the many clues that allow you to determine any wall's history, age, and purpose. Thorson highlights forty-five places to see interesting and noteworthy walls, many of which are in public parks and preserves, from Acadia National Park in Maine to the South Fork of Long Island. Visit the tallest stone wall (Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island), the most famous (Robert Frost's mending wall in Derry, New Hampshire), and many more. This field guide will broaden your horizons and deepen your appreciation of New England's rural history.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The only field guide to stone walls in the Northeast.

"Every stone wall is unique and every stone tells a story," says Robert M. Thorson, the author of the first field guide to historic New England stone walls-- one that helps you identify and appreciate those in your yard, neighborhood, and throughout the Northeast.

Exploring Stone Walls is like being in Thorson's geology classroom, as he presents the many clues that allow you to determine any wall's history, age, and purpose. Thorson highlights forty-five places to see interesting and noteworthy walls, many of which are in public parks and preserves, from Acadia National Park in Maine to the South Fork of Long Island. Visit the tallest stone wall (Cliff Walk in Newport, Rhode Island), the most famous (Robert Frost's mending wall in Derry, New Hampshire), and many more. This field guide will broaden your horizons and deepen your appreciation of New England's rural history.

Robert M. Thorson is the winner of the 2003 Connecticut Book Award for Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History of New England's Stone Walls. He is a professor of geology at the University of Connecticut and cofounder of the Stone Wall Initiative, which supports the appreciation and preservation of historic walls. He writes a weekly op-ed column for The Hartford Courant.

Praise for Stone by Stone:

"(Thorson's) fine study is an open invitation to head into the country oneself and explore a stone wall."-- Michael Kenney, The Boston Globe

"Thorson is a fine writer, a scientist with the sensibility of a poet."-- The Providence Sunday Journal

About the Author

Robert M. Thorson is the winner of the 2003 Connecticut Book Award for Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History of New England's Stone Walls. He is a professor of geology at the University of Connecticut and cofounder of the Stone Wall Initiative, which supports the appreciation and preservation of historic walls. He writes a weekly op-ed column for The Hartford Courant.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company (February 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802777082
• ISBN-13: 978-0802777089
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #171,751 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #40 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Geophysics
  • #48 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Earth Sciences > Rocks & Minerals

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars What I Learned About Stone Walls, January 2, 2006

By 

Nick - See all my reviews

This review is from: Exploring Stone Walls: A Field Guide to New England's Stone Walls (Paperback)

The book, Exploring Stone Walls, A Field Guide to New England's Stone Walls by Robert Thorson is split up into eleven detailed chapters. From there it is distributed into three separate sections. The first section is divided into four chapters. Thorson mainly talks about how there are many different types of life in and or around a stone wall. Many different types of organisms live here including the smallest life forms such as lichens and bacteria to large mammals such as dogs and cats. Although Thorson doesn't give much of an overview about this section, it is highly detailed fact-wise. I found this quite interesting because even if you are not an in-depth stonewall observer, than you can still have an enjoyable time watching them if you also have other interests such as ecology or if you're a naturalist. During the course of this book, there was one small segment about how he talked about artificial stone being very abundant throughout New England. I feel like this had little reference to the rest of the topics that Thorson was explaining. But there was an extremely well-developed chapter that I felt helped me overcome the very puzzling question of "How do you know whether to classify stone as a wall or a pile?" Very challenging question. Or is it? There is a simple answer to this problem. If the wall is anything less than four times long than it is wide it is a pile and vice-versa. In chapter eight of the book there is a well thought of segment about how to determine a certain wall's age. If you like to have history tied in with reading than you'll like this book. I didn't enjoy the chapter about the terrain because it was too detailed and it barely even talked about the walls. But his best chapter was chapter eleven, where he described some of his personal favorite stone walls to visit. This is even more interesting if you love to travel and explore. Overall, Thorson is a very good author and many people will benefit reading this book.