I think the most satisfying aspect of building dry stone walls and and bridges is that even though they are newly completed structures they often give the impression that they are very old.
The bridge in this picture, which was the main dry stone project I headed up for our annual Rocktoberfest event last weekend, was taken yesterday when Gavin, Patrick and Angus and I were there to fit the last stones along the footbridge surface. A dozen or so wallers from Canada and the United States had helped to bring this marvelous bridge into being during the Canadian Thanksgiving walling festival. On Tuesday, the day after the festival, several of us came back and 'pitched' in to finish the stone pathway and then helped to clear up the site.
As we were cleaning up Aaron Wallis a landscaper from the Eastern townships of Quebec and an eager volunteer on this bridge project, came back with his family to take pictures. I took several shots of the new bridge in the dappled afternoon light. I think the sepia filter I applied to the photos of Aaron's wife and children on the bridge adds to this impression of it appearing to be a much older structure than it actually is.
Hands-on dry stone projects like this one provide a visual tie with the past which is as strong as the other historic connections associated with building structures in this traditional method of dry stone construction.
