Dry Stone Conservancy Home
 
Recent Projects


Hillsboro Road Reconstuction Project, Franklin, TN.


Jail Alley Wall, Fredericksburg, VA.

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Roebling Aqueduct Reconstruction, NY.

Dry Stone Conservancy
1065 Dove Run Rd.
Suite 6
Lexington, KY 40502

© 2008 Dry Stone Conservancy

Welcome
The Dry Stone Conservancy was incorporated in 1996 as a 501(c)3, to preserve historic drystone structures, to advance the drystone masonry craft, and to create a center for training and expertise nationwide.


Clip from Walls of Stone video


 
2008 Spring Workshop Registration
Download Registration: 130k .pdf
or view schedule online
 
2008 Volunteer Workdays Registration
Download Form: 300k .pdf

 
2007 Friends of Dry Stone Newsletter
Download Newsletter: 1.3m .pdf

Kentucky is the premier example of the rich dry stone heritage of the United States. The region was developed using the native limestone on a vast scale. Dry stone mills and dams lined the streams. Stone dwellings, farm buildings, churches, limestone kilns, and iron furnaces were common. Dry stone bridges and embankments of the era still support daily use. Today, the most significant remaining dry stone structures are the rock fences and stone walls that border fields, pastures, and roadways. These are hallmarks of the region, yet their preservation has a reached a critical point.

Rock fences are one of the most identifiable and well-known features of the world-famous Kentucky Bluegrass Region. They help distinguish our landscape for all who reside and visit here, yet they are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Historic fences are consumed by development, road-widening, and neglect and are hauled away, buried, or ground into road rock. There is a severe shortage of skilled dry stone masons compounded by scarcity of accurate how-to-information.

The Conservancy has conducted training and restoration projects for National Park Service personnel in 20 states and has provided advice and consultations in 35 other states. We have contributed expertise to projects in architecture, engineering, conservation, preservation, history, geography, job development, and tourism.

The Dry Stone Conservancy (DSC) is the only organization in the country devoted to dry stone masonry. Our mission is to preserve dry stone structures and to advance dry stone skills.

Read more about the Conservancy

 

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