The first big project

My friend Andrew and I had been hiking in Minnewaska State Park in 2017. We stayed at the Minnewaska Lodge. One of the nice things they had for their guests were pre-arranged s’mores. You could take a packet with a marshmallow and chocolate. Skewers were available to take to their fire pit to make s’mores. After a long day of hiking it was magical to sit by the fire, roast marshmallows, and chat with the other guests.

Andrew suggested a fire pit was needed for the house. This became the first big project.

The internet is full of fire pit suggestions. They come in every size, shape, material and cover every level of cost. Ultimately, I decided we should build a simple durable fire pit out of stone.

I ordered stone from Cutrone Stone, a local stone yard – still family owned – up the road from the house. I ordered 3 types of stone. A grey granite gravel, Belgian blocks and some irregular boulders. I next went to Home Depot and bought sturdy weed barrier fabric.

Steps:

1. Using string connected to a stake, I carefully drew a circle the size of the outside of the fire pit.
2. I leveled the ground as much as possible (this wasn’t easy, as there are a lot of rocks at the surface making it difficult to dig).
3. The Belgian blocks were placed around the outside of the circle and buried about an inch into the ground.
4. The weed barrier fabric was cut to fit the circle. We left a large hole in the center for the fire pit itself.
5. We placed the large boulders in a circle to form the fire pit.
6. We filled the entire area, including the fire pit with a generous layer of gravel.

The stone could not be dumped as close to the fire pit as I would have preferred, which necessitated an arduous task of transporting tons of stone by wheel barrow to the fire pit. For the boulders we resorted to rolling, as they were too heavy for us to lift.

The addition of 6 adirondack chairs finished off the fire pit. The cost wasn’t huge. The chairs cost more than the stone. The work involved was a few hours. Sitting by the fire at the fire pit we made with our own hands is both relaxing and satisfying.