Stony inspiration

It's hard not to love the cottage architecture of Mount Desert Island. In particular the homes, churches and gardens of the 'Rusticators'. The Rusticators were the wealthy from the northeast who spent summers in the small coastal villages, tending to build large 'cottages' as was/is the de rigueur along the New England coast from the 1870's to the present. One of the signature traits Mount Desert had to offer was the abundance of rock. In fact, Mount Desert is nothing but rock, pink granite making up most of the island bulk. Because of such abundance, and because the cost of labor in that day was comparably very low, the architects and gardeners used it with impunity. It's fairly obvious that the way the Rusticators would show there wealth was in the silent competition to see who had the most and best stonework. Here are three examples of chimneys and my very modest attempt to have a little rustication of my own.

Northeast Harbor, Maine. Very rustic.

Northeast Harbor, Maine. Although
this is a very new house,  the
stonework tradition is still  thriving.

Here is the living room at Keewaydin in
Seal Harbor. A work of art made of granite.
(Photo: Dunham Family Collection)

After years of seeing stone at every
turn I wanted a bit for myself. I've just
picked the stone for my wood stove
hearth and it's being brought over to
the shop to be cut to size.

The stone, cut to fit under the
stove, is an end cut. This piece
would be the end of the granite
block that is cut from the quarry.
It has a very flat side (the result of a
very large saw at the fabrication
shop) perfect for laying on the floor.
With out the help of my brother-in-law
the stone would still be out front.

Because the stone is so irregular I had
to grind areas away with a diamond
blade until the stove was level. No
easy task, requiring a plastic tent and
fan to capture the dust and stone. I
finally have a bit of stone, now to
get lichen to cover.