Welcome to The Stone Trust

Established in southern Vermont in 2010, The Stone Trust’s mission is to preserve and advance the art and craft of dry stone walling. We do this through an expanding program of educational events and outreach projects. The Stone Trust is a multifaceted resource engaged in preserving the natural use of plentiful stone in simple, gratifying ways.

The Stone Trust Center is the only facility in North America that provides year round educational and DSWA certification opportunities for all levels and abilities. The Stone Trust is a 501(c)(3) Nonprofit Organization. It relies on contributions from people like you to keep its programs going. Help us continue to preserve and advance the art and craft of Dry Stone Walling!

Quick Links

• Looking for hands-on training to build dry stone walls? Click Upcoming Workshops
• Want to become a Certified Dry Stone Waller? Click Upcoming Certifications
• Looking for a contractor to build a wall? Click Certified Wallers
• Want to read up on the basics of dry stone walling? Click How to Build Walls
• Looking for amazing photos of dry stone walls and features? Click Photo Gallery
• Are you an Architect, Landscape Architect, Engineer or Designer looking for specifications for dry stone walls? Click Design Information

Support The Stone Trust

Your support makes our work possible. Please consider helping us preserve and advance the craft of dry stone walling by making a donation today. Thank you.

Building Walling Skills, Training Capacity, and Community, Twin Cities, July 17 & 18, 2021

Posted July 21, 2021
We Had a Blast! Stone Shaping, July 17, 2021 Stone Trust Board President and Dry Stone Walling Association (DSWA) Level 3 Advanced Waller Daniel Peterson and Level 3 Advanced Waller Daniel Arabella led our first Stone Trust stone shaping workshop at the Minnesota Stone Trust site on Saturday July 17. We had five enthusiastic participants, [...]


Master Class: Fat Tony and the Art of Coursing, Part 2

Posted July 17, 2021
Part 1 ended with the promise that “Fat Tony” would finally make an appearance here-in. Before he does we need to first look at some of the issues that can occur with jointing within a coursed wall



July Waller of the Month: Dario Coletta

Posted July 17, 2021
DARIO COLETTA (Massachusetts) has spent the last 10 years or so designing and building in dry stone in the western part of the state.



Virginia City… Silver City: By rail past dry stone retaining walls through Nevada

Posted July 17, 2021
Stone Trust friend, geologist, and Level 1 Initial-certified dry stone waller Jim Wood sent photos from his recent trip from Virginia City to Silver City, Nevada. He writes: Here's the scene. The historic railroad brought in mining supplies in the day and hauled out the silver bullion. Mark Twain worked at the Territorial Enterprise here. [...]


Splitting boulders under water

Posted July 17, 2021
Stone Trust Professional Member John Sandri writes: A customer recently contacted us about a unique project, after having heard we could split boulders.  They were trying to move boulders from their swimming area that were a danger to swimmers jumping or diving off the dock.  A customized crane boat was brought in to move the [...]


So Many Books, So Little Time

Posted July 17, 2021
The Stone Trust online store offers a wonderful collection of books on stone walls. The topics range from historical books about old stonewalls to step-by-step How-To manuals about the details and methods of construction. Whether you’ve already taken a workshop, are registered for an upcoming one, or simply have an interest in learning about walling, [...]


Planning, laying out, and building solid, stable steps and stairs

Posted July 16, 2021
Thanks very much to the two hardy souls who traveled so far (from the Pacific Northwest and the Southwest) to learn a full set of stone work skills at our Summer Medley Weekend! You endured the deluge on day one, and again on the morning of day four, the Steps & Stairs workshop. Throughout you [...]


Learning to prepare the base and lay the stone at our July Flagging/Patio workshops

Posted July 16, 2021
As is usually the case, you brought a range of experience to our July Flagging/Patio workshops, from none to self-taught to related courses in stone work to the professional day-to-day. Your groups included eight men and three women working from 9 to 5 on two separate days to learn how to prepare the base and [...]


Building retaining walls to last, July workshops in Vermont

Posted July 15, 2021
If you came to more than one workshop during our Summer Medley Weekend, you experienced some rain (deluge to drizzle) and some shine (beautiful full sun to cloudy). Such is the weather in New England. People in the Sunday retaining wall workshop fared better weather-wise than those on Monday. But all of you took the [...]


Learning techniques to shape varieties of stone (July 10, 2021, VT)

Posted July 15, 2021
Introduction to Stone Shaping attracts wallers with significant projects and an abiding interest in learning what they need to know to complete their projects well. This past weekend's class attracted a number of homeowners and some career-changers who had gotten the basics under their belt at an Intro workshop. A self-taught waller who repairs walls [...]