After
Over the past two weeks Mark and I managed to restore 420 feet of wall that was originally built by Polish immigrants who cleared this part of the early Ontario wilderness of trees and rocky terrain known now as Renfrew County.
Many of these Polish farmsteads have a network of excessively wide walls (consumption walls ) stretching across the old farmland clearings and also penetrating into areas dense now with bush, where the trees have reclaimed the land that was so valiantly fought for by the original settlers
I can't help but think of the hardship involved and the heroic effort that went into making these well defined walls, instead of farmers just casting the rocks off to the side of the fields in random heaps .
While many of the old walls in Ontario I've worked on can be traced back to British and Irish origins, I feel honoured to be involved in the restoring historic walls representing other cultures too. There is no question that these Polish walls are very much a part of our great Canadian dry stone wall heritage.
I can't help but think of the hardship involved and the heroic effort that went into making these well defined walls, instead of farmers just casting the rocks off to the side of the fields in random heaps .
While many of the old walls in Ontario I've worked on can be traced back to British and Irish origins, I feel honoured to be involved in the restoring historic walls representing other cultures too. There is no question that these Polish walls are very much a part of our great Canadian dry stone wall heritage.
Before
