“Best darn workshop–beautiful and learned a ton!”
Two beautiful late summer days brought two happy groups of people to the Stone Trust Center in Dummerston, Vermont to learn the five basic rules of dry stone walling. Given the weather and the prevalence of the Delta Variant, we chose to teach outside on the social-distance walls volunteers helped build on July 4, 2020, rather than in the Stone Trust’s Indoor Training Center. That allowed participants to work in two-person teams and mask as made sense in terms of vaccination status and social distance.
On Saturday, fourteen men and women learned how to build structurally sound, double face, freestanding walls with instructors Dario Coletta and Ben Maron. (We missed the two participants who had to forego the workshop for pandemic-related reasons and hope to see them at a future class.)
Most of Saturday’s wallers arrived from nearby New England, while one man hails from Cleveland, Ohio. (People continue to come from far and wide to learn the art and craft of dry stone walling.) As is often the case, many participants brought a variety of background knowledge gleaned from teaching themselves to build with stone. The class also included a “seasoned landscape architect and experienced hard labor guy.” The landscape architect earned CEUs.
Ben Maron stayed on to teach Sunday’s Introduction to Dry Stone Walling. Instructor Ron Neil joined him. A group of twelve people, from across New England and New York City, all classified themselves as novice wallers. They came to learn the basics and build their skill sets to apply at home. Who knows where their newly acquired knowledge will take them!
Thanks to students and instructors for making the trip and taking the time to share the knowledge that preserves the craft of dry stone walling!. Come back when you’re ready to learn more!