Making an Entrance

The most strenuous and difficult projects are often the most rewarding. I know this, but I still agonize over them. I wonder – what if I can’t complete the task or what if it doesn’t turn out the way I expected. Rarely am I satisfied with my work, so the later concern is always topmost in my mind. My latest project almost meets my expectations.

Genna Way, my private road, is connected to a busy state road. A couple of years ago, I installed posts and a chain across the road to keep people from randomly entering my yard. It stopped the people coming from the state road, but this did not stop the people who ignore the signs from Powelton Farms Road. Even though I locked the chain and cemented the posts into the ground, people insisted on going through. On one occasion, someone took one of the posts out of the ground in order to drive through. Another person ripped the lock off. Then there was the time a huge delivery truck made it down the driveway, only to be stopped by the chain. The driver was so clever, he decided he would drive onto my lawn and around some bushes to get out. Little did he know he would sink, because it is a wet part of the yard (police and a tow truck, that cost his company a lot of money, solved the problem). So, much for private property!

It has been my intention for some time to make a new entrance, something more substantial, without being ostentatious. My initial inclination was to have two brick piers erected, with slightly curving wings. What seemed like a good plan was quickly rejected when a local builder gave me a quote of $18,000, not including a gate.

A few years ago, I met a guy, David, who collected stone. Stone walls are ubiquitous in New York. They are beautiful reminders of how the first inhabitants cleared land and piled the stones to make walls. Not everyone appreciates these old stone walls and when people wanted to get rid of them David would pick them up. He surrounded his yard with walls, built retaining walls and still had huge piles left. He finally decided to landscape his yard and wanted to get rid of the rest of the stones. It was perfect timing for me. We loaded them into his truck and dumped them in my yard.

My plan of brick piers changed to a stone wall. Some of the stones were tremendously heavy. I could not lift them. The heaviest stones were the stones I used for the base. Not being able to lift them, I rolled them into place. I moved some of the larger stones by pulling them on a tarp behind the lawnmower. Slowly the wall began to take shape. I installed aluminum posts to mount a gate.

There is more room on the right side of the driveway. The left side drops off rather steeply where the stream goes under the road. The additional space on the right side enabled me to make the wall longer, for no other reasons than I had the extra stone, and it makes a nice decorative curve.

Rather than a grand entrance, I wanted it to look as though it had been there all along. The overall look I was seeking was a wall similar to all the old walls in the area. I am satisfied with how my entrance turned out. I know no one will pull out the posts, they are solidly cemented in place. If someone decides to ram the gate to get through, they will damage their car.

At the start of the project, I was a little overwhelmed at the thousands of pounds of stone I needed to move. I need not have been concerned about moving such heavy stones. The most difficult stones were those on the top of the wall. I not only had to pick them up, but I also needed to raise them up to the height of the wall. I haven’t gone to the gym in a few years, which doesn’t matter because working on a wall is just like lifting weights.

Spring has been nice. We had a late freeze that zapped the magnolia. It still bloomed, but about 40% of the blossoms did not open. Instead, the buds fell to the ground, brown and unopened. Here are a few photos from the yard.

Happy Spring!