The two photos above show two very different masonry structures which visitors to our town might see if they walked around for a while. One is a phony stone concrete block building along the river that must have been a utility building of some sort at one time. The other is a dry stone folly built by wallers from Scotland, Switzerland, USA and Canada during our second Rocktoberfest back in 2005.
Both are relatively modern ruins. Both structures catch your eye. They both create a sense of place and a feeling of time. Neither of them serve any particular use, or do they?
Canada does not have anywhere near as many ruins as other European counties. Old buildings are what gives a place character.
We need to preserve ones that we have and if we can, tastefully create new ones, and of course be careful with new utilitarian buildings that we don't make a wreck of the countryside.
