June 14, 2023
New Stones for Four Quarters
By Orren P. Whiddon
Photos by Mike McConnell
2015 Lifting the Great North Stone from its truck
I wanted to write a short note on what we have been working on this season, other than finishing touches to the new electrical system, expanding the showers, and the never ending grooming of our woodlands.
You may remember that 2015 was a big year for us. That was when we took the momentous decision to purchase the adjoining 110 acre farm that we now know as New Camp and Fairview Station. That vertigo inducing $500,000 purchase is now just $50,000 owed with the bank, and all of the work in scrub clearance, drainage and the building of Rainbow Bridge are now memories.
Another major memory of 2015 was our biggest ever trip to the quarries we work with. This trip brought us the 22 foot stone that now stands at North, and many other remarkable stones that now stand in circle. But even with a small refresher trip with our own truck and trailer, we really have run out of good, large stone.
The arrow points to Mike and Orren, in case you might miss them!
You may remember that 2015 was a big year for us. That was when we took the momentous decision to purchase the adjoining 110 acre farm that we now know as New Camp and Fairview Station. That vertigo inducing $500,000 purchase is now just $50,000 owed with the bank, and all of the work in scrub clearance, drainage and the building of Rainbow Bridge are now memories.
Another major memory of 2015 was our biggest ever trip to the quarries we work with. This trip brought us the 22 foot stone that now stands at North, and many other remarkable stones that now stand in circle. But even with a small refresher trip with our own truck and trailer, we really have run out of good, large stone.
The arrow points to Mike and Orren, in case you might miss them!
So last winter we made a trip to the quarries to spy out and mark good stones that we thought were candidates for the long journey to Four Quarters. That was followed up by a trip just a week ago to make the final selections and planning the crane and trucking required. If all goes well by Drum and splash we will have three flatbed trailer loads of new (to us) stones in the stone yard.
Bringing together our marked stones for loading.
To quote a few numbers that's about 45 tons (90,000 pounds) of stone spread out over 12-14 stones, the largest being just a little bit smaller than the West Gate Stone at 12,000 pounds. It will be a $10,000 day! What fun!
Two old quarrymen, and a young'un.
In late May we were invited to help with Berkeley Springs "Bringing in The May," to benefit the Morgan County Arts Council. A beautiful day with beautiful Fairy Children.
Building our future!