July 3, 2023
The New Stones Have Arrived
By Orren P. Whiddon
Photos by Mike McConnell, Pam Alexander, Tom BlackHawk
A deep contrabass rumble echos through the hills as the big boys shoulder their loads.
The Friday before Drum and Splash arrived misty and cool; with the promise of something big in the air as three tractor trailer flatbeds rumbled up our hilltop, carrying the next few years of stones for the circle.
The crane from Digging and Rigging arrived at 7 in the morning, and at 7:30 fresh coffee with hot sausage biscuits were served from the Farmhouse kitchen.
Then the fun began.
The first flatbed slides into position... the beginning of a long day. Harold, our quarry-man, had used the previous seven years to stockpile candidate stones as they were worked out of the veins of the mountain. The kind of large, natural slab that we are after remain hard to come by and we had made three trips over the years to measure and select the final candidates.
Workers in stone learn patience.
Workers in stone learn patience.
They are grand stones!
Altogether over 90,000 pounds of stones made the journey, with the smallest slabs for the North Copse coming in at 4,000 pounds, and a huge stone for the Main Circle weighing in at 16,000 pounds.
It will be the largest we have ever handled when it's day comes.
Aahhh! A full stone yard, once again.
16,000 pounds of stone lies in it's new home.
These are beautiful, strong, well made stones and all agree that they are the finest our quarry has yet produced. In a few years we will finish with the delicate North Copse and return to handling "The Big Uns."
All good things in good time! Come for a visit and get to know our new stones.
All good things in good time! Come for a visit and get to know our new stones.
Or help supervise.
Come and be a part of this great work of years! A weekend of Ceremony and Service –