New England fights for its stone walls

New England fights for its stone walls

STORRS, Conn. — By and large, New England's iconic stone walls have withstood
generations of wandering wildlife, howling blizzards and even the occasional
hurricane.
Now the rustic walls face new dangers — a growing number of
blatant stone-by-stone thefts, and the legal practice of dismantling the walls
to use the stone for patios, walkways and other landscaping projects.
From
Connecticut's tony suburbs to Maine's rural back country, the threat to New
England's low-slung stone walls has forged new alliances between historians,
government officials, geologists and conservationists. Their goal is to curb the
thefts with stepped-up enforcement and tighter regulations, while encouraging
landowners to preserve the walls rather than succumbing to the lure of selling
the stone for easy money.
"The walls are no less an antique than a piece of Chippendale furniture, but you wouldn't take a Chippendale apart for the wood," said Robert Thorson, a geology professor at the University of Connecticut and author of Stone by Stone: The Magnificent History in New England's Stone Walls.
Increased thefts and sales prompted the Connecticut Trust for Historic
Preservation to name the walls among the state's most endangered historic
properties in 2002. This year, it nominated the walls to the National Trust for
Historic Preservation's list.

Are stone walls really that important, while they are old, I don't think that age in itself is always a reason to save something. You don't save old food just because it is old. If the land owners want to save it, they should have that right, but if they want to sell it - then they should have that right as well. If it were my land I would want to save the walls, but that is just me.