Natural Stone Walls
New Hampshire Stone Walls: A Legacy of Beauty and Ingenuity
New Hampshire stone wall installers are about as authentically New England as it gets. It’s a true testament to Yankee ingenuity—turning something as burdensome as stone in the field into a lasting legacy of beauty and craftsmanship.
A History Carved in Stone
The history of stone walls in New Hampshire is nothing short of fascinating. There are over 250,000 miles of natural stone walls in New England alone.* Stretched end to end, that’s enough to circle the globe 10 times—or even reach the moon, if you prefer. What’s truly remarkable is that this massive stone wall movement happened within just 30 years, between 1810 and 1840.
In the 1700s, field boundaries were marked with makeshift hedgerows—piles of stumps and brush leftover from land being cleared for farming. It was a farming frenzy. By 1830, over 80% of New Hampshire had been clear-cut. Erosion soon followed, revealing what farmers called the New England potato—stones that seemed to emerge endlessly from the soil.
Ever resourceful, New England farmers took those stones and began replacing the rotting hedgerows with durable fieldstone walls.
The Shift Away from Stone
Stone wall building all but stopped when agriculture declined in New Hampshire. As westward expansion drew young men away and the Civil War took its toll, farming shifted from crops to livestock and dairy. In 1870, barbed wire was invented—an easier and cheaper alternative. Post and wire fences became the new norm, which is why you’ll often find barbed wire running through old stone walls deep in the woods today.
Timeless Craftsmanship That Lives On
Although the days of small farms have faded, the appreciation for natural stone walls has never disappeared. A properly built stone wall brings instant character, permanence, and a sense of history from the very first stone laid.
At Rye Beach Landscaping, the lost art of stone wall building is very much alive. Our expert stone masons build everything from dry stacked fieldstone to quarried granite walls and natural stone veneer. Whether it’s a freestanding feature or a functional retaining wall, we’ll work with your property’s layout and integrate it into your landscape design with ornamental grasses, perennials, and native shrubs.
Honoring New Hampshire’s Stone Heritage
We take New Hampshire’s stone heritage seriously. Just like our work with antique granite, we’re always on the lookout for old fieldstone to rescue and repurpose—giving it new life in a wall that may stand for another 200 years.
*United States Department of Agriculture; page 497, Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture, 1872