The Stone House
In the spring of 2007, Fred Lashley and I undertook the most ambitious masonry project of our time together at the Unturned Stone. For two summers, we built a stone cabin for a private owner in a remote site in the Black Mountains of western North Carolina.
Everything had to come down this steep trail: hundreds of tons of stone, mortar, sand, water and tools. The daily commute was forty-five minutes one way, until a landslide on the Blue Ridge Parkway forced a detour that more than doubled the time spent riding to work. And though I can’t prove it, I think stone is heavier a mile above sea level.
The completed cabin is something to behold, stout and sturdy, a timeless building, humble and majestic all at once. I have visited the site a handful of times since we finished. When I first walk into the clearing and see the cabin again, it always gives my heart a jolt. The cabin has a physical presence unlike anything else I have built. It stands there, a silent monument to perseverance and passion, hard work and a certain type of beautiful madness. I am crazy proud of it.
The cabin was a labor of love for an accomplished group of craftspeople: Fred Lashley, Jody Maney, Jesse Friedrichs, Scott Fargo, Jill Bowen, Ian Kelley, Jessica Beckwith, Pete Mallett, Bill Baddorf, Grace McDowell, Kevin Ballew, Marc Archambault, and Walt.