Many thanks to fellow board member Paul Peterson for interviewing Jordan and writing this profile.
Jordan joined the board of The Stone Trust (TST) in May 2019. He is a member of the management team of Trow & Holden Company, a manufacturer of stone cutting tools in Barre, Vermont. Trow & Holden services the diverse stone industry: masons, sculptors, builders, installers, and others. Through TST, Jordan has earned Level 2 and Instructor certifications from the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain (DSWA-GB).
Jordan grew up in eastern Pennsylvania and attended school in Boulder, Colorado. After several years working in advertising in New York City, Jordan was introduced to the owners of Trow & Holden by a mutual friend. In 2013 he made the decision to move to Vermont and begin a different career at Barre, the Granite City, one of the centers of the stone industry in New England. For 130 years, the Barre granite industry and its associated craftsmen have relied on the hand and power tools provided by Trow and Holden.
Jordan’s relationship with TST goes back to his early days at Trow & Holden. The Stone Trust needed a source for stone tools useful in dry stone walling. Jordan became that source and worked closely with TST to develop a catalog of walling tools available from TST. In 2017, Jordan began hosting the 2-Day Introduction to Dry Stone Walling workshops at the Vermont Granite Museum in Barre. This year he will be teaching the class on October 11 and 12. The wall from one of those workshops in 2018 is pictured below.
Jordan envisions expanding the offerings of TST. He knows from his experiences in Barre that information and skilled knowledge can be lost, possibly never recovered. He supports the mission of TST to protect and preserve traditional stone building practices. He wants to expand the course offerings of TST, and the location of those courses, with a deliberate and disciplined approach. The board is fortunate to have Jordan providing his industry perspective, business experience, and practical guidance.