The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls [Paperback]

Kevin Gardner (Author), Guillermo Nunez (Illustrator), Susan Allport (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2003

A master stonemason imparts the fundamentals of building traditional New England-style dry stone walls.

In this eminently readable primer on the fundamentals of placing stone, Kevin Gardner distills 30 years of experience in building and restoring stone walls into principles and practices that are adaptable to a wide variety of designs and circumstances. He also discusses the history, philosophy, and aesthetics of the craft. In addition to directions on building basic stone walls, he also demystifies steps, wells, ramps, walkways, and many other forms of dry masonry.

Along the way, Gardner considers the mythology of the stone wall and its place in the New England imagination. He explores the art in a book that will bring as much pleasure to armchair craftsmen as it will valuable instruction to the beginning wall builder. 20 black & white illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A Thoreauvian do-it-yourself guide. -- Todd R. Nelson, Christian Science Monitor

About the Author

For more than 30 years, Kevin Gardner has been a stone wall builder—designing, constructing, restoring, evaluating, and teaching how to build traditional New England-style dry stone walls. Gardner has participated in major restoration projects and training workshops at Canterbury Shaker Village, Acadia National Park, and many other historical sites in New England. He is also an award-winning writer and producer for New Hampshire Public Radio. He lives in Hopkinton, NH.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Countryman; Reprint edition (April 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881505463
• ISBN-13: 978-0881505467
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #693,183 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

51 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My favorite stone-wall how-to book, November 28, 2002

By 

Matthew Spady "800rsd" (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls (Hardcover)

Of the half-dozen books I bought in preparation for recycling some of the old stonewalls up through the woods on our farm into a new retaining wall, this is my clear favorite. It is more detailed than John Vivian's Building Stone Walls, particularly when it comes to retaining walls. Because it is not as glossy and illustrated as Haywards' Stone in the Garden or David Reed's Stonescaping (which are, by the way, both excellent in their own right), I'm not as wary about taking it out to the project with me.

The text is clear and concise, and includes a healthy dose of stone philosophy and the index is detailed enough to help the do-it-yourselfer find what he needs, but short enough so that he can find what he wants, even if he does not know the proper name for it.

However, the main reason I like this book so much is Gardner's assurance that anyone who puts his mind to it -- which includes me -- can build a stone wall. While his respect for old stone walls and the art of building them is obvious, he also has a healthy dose of practicality. "The notion that all, or even most, of the old stone-work we see around New England is the result of concentrated applicaion of arcane skill," he write, " is demonstrably false." Once that sacred cow was out of the way, my confidence level went up and anything seemed possible.

The black & white drawings that illustrate the text are clear and very helpful.

24 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Two over one, one over two., April 2, 2002

By 

Frank Richards (Marlow, NH United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book...it's about stone walls, and about building stone walls, and all the things stone walls have meant and done for 350 years, and what it feels like to live and work in a place where just past the urban sprawl every one of those 350 years blends with this one (and if you look out the corner of your eye there're older times than that hiding in the shadows.)

It's not a homeowner howto, though it's got everything you can learn from a book. It's a book for masons who love their craft, New Englanders who love their home place, and anyone who likes good work. Whatever that means to you.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gets you in the mood, July 23, 2007

By 

T Schwa "critic of all things" (NE Corridor USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Granite Kiss: Traditions and Techniques of Building New England Stone Walls (Paperback)

The Granite Kiss is an endearing look at the practical and esthetic aspects of creating and repairing stone walls. The book has an artistic quality with its extra wide pages with pen and ink drawings of walls under construction or old walls still standing. There are no photos.

There is a feeling of working alongside the author while he idly rambles about the task at hand and jobs he has completed in his career. I especially enjoyed his nicknames for the various rock shapes likely to be found in any imperfect rockpile and the relationships the shapes may have to each other in a completed wall. All in all, stone wall building is a task of patience and persistance - which the author relays in topics such as: spreading the "good" rocks out; working with rocks that are not perfect blocklike shapes, time management; and what is likely to stand the test of time.

This is a book to get you into the slow and methodical, but contemplative mood for learning and practicing this dying art.