"Cities, Towns & Countryside"
5th Annual Preservation Week 2003 Photo-Essay Competition
First Place: Amanda Hensley
10th Grade, Eminence Independent School
Eminence, Kentucky
TITLE: Stone Fences of Henry County
I have always noticed stone fences on my farm, on the side of the road. They make me think of the people who built them and their history. There are few good, still-standing stone fences around. This is why I chose stone fences as a structure that we should preserve.
My teacher and I searched Henry County for stone fences and we found them in many different places. Overall, the stone fences had the same design, flat rocks stacked on top of each other with a different slanted/angled layer on top. We noticed the fences were usually near creeks or beside more recent fences. In our month of searching, we have found 4 locations of stone fences and heard of many more; which makes us wonder if we had more time, how many more could we find?
There has been a lot of study of stone fences in Kentucky, mostly by Karl Raitz and Carolyn Murray-Wooley. I have contacted Karl Raitz for help in finding information on the topic and realized in his study he had never searched Henry County. We literally have no idea of what Henry County used to have and barely know of what it still has today.
Stone fences are a great part of Kentucky's history. People think of stone fences and automatically think of the civil war and slaves. Most people call the "slave fences." They don't realize there is more history and culture to them. Their history goes back as far as when Irish immigrants came to the U. S. bringing their skill and masonry. They used their skills to survive and bring their social level higher, because at first they were treated mostly like slaves/African Americans. The Irish then passed the skill and knowledge of the art to slaves. A quote from Karl Raitz helps explain their history: "After the civil war, freed blacks who might have worked with the Irish masons (as slaves of local landowners who were having fences built on their land) often started their own masonry companies utilizing the knowledge of rock fence building that they learned from the Irish."
Stone fences show history of the civil war, culture, and skill of past generations. "Kentucky has the largest number of quarried rock fences in the U. S." (David L. Morgan) Yet we only have 5-10% of what was originally here (http"//crm.cr.nps.gov/archives/20-12/20-8.pdf). Many Ketnuckians are unaware of them and the story of how they were built and the people who built them.
Many stone fences are being destroyed because of development, road widening and neglect. Several places in Kentucky in the past had a lot of stone fences, but for example, Fayette County alone has lost 25% of its stone fences between 1967-1990 (www.legislature.state.tn.us). Kentucky has fewer and fewer stone fences each year.
Many people don't recognize stone fences; they drive by them on the way to work and back everyday and until mentioned, they never notice. People are blind and unaware to their existence and historical significance. I just recently realized two different sets of stone fences I have been going by almost every day and only until I started my research have I started looking and noticing them. I feel that if we tell people about the history then they will become more aware of the importance of preserving stone fences in their communities. As Karl Raitz says, ".Every foot of remaining fence, here or in Henry County, is a rare and irreplaceable historical document."
If we just let the existence and history of stone fences disappear, we will forget our past. We need, in the words of Secretary Codell, a member of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, "to preserve our heritage and the beauty of our state." Stone fences are part of Kentucky's landscape; they even made people want to live here at one time.
The limestone we have in Kentucky has helped form our caves; but what is not know is that it is also what made Irish masons want to live here. Limestone is good for the soil and also good for stone fences. The Irish, having only their masonry skills, used this to their advantage and settled here and used their skills to survive.
People need to be aware of the story each fence holds. To educate people, we need to show more television documentaries, write more news articles, give more public lectures, and to pass specific ordinances protecting them or even obtain grants for property owners for repair of existing stone fences.
There are two groups designed for this purpose, The Rock Fence Heritage Marker Program and Dry Stone Conservancy. Dry Stone Conservancy, the organization formed in part by Karl Raitz, helps preserve stone fences. They have workshops to teach the art and skill to build or repair stone fences. Through selling videos and books that teach people how, they truly help out in preserving the skill of building stone fences and Irish masonry.
The importance of preserving stone fences and their history for future generations is great. It will take work and time, but the effort put in will definitely be worth it because their background and history are a part of our history, as Kentuckians. Stone fences are part of us as they are a part of Kentucky. When they are destroyed, we lose a part of our own history that we can not get back. There would be no evidence of Irish masonry except for photos. If we lose that we lose a sense of who we are, where we came from and the history and knowledge of how it was for our ancestors. As Karl Raitz says, "This is a very compelling story that should be told and retold to each generation, and if the fences are lost then this story will go with them."
In conclusion, Kentucky is "home to the most extensive collection of dry masonry quarried stone fences still standing in the U.S. today." - David L. Morgan. As a young adult I would like to see the stone fences in Henry County, and all of Kentucky, to be preserved and well kept for future generations.
This essay and photograph(s) are the property of Preservation Kentucky, Inc. and Kentucky Heritage Council and that any use of the photo or essay must be approved by PK and KHC. |
