In contrast, the beauty offered by our county's unique geology often goes unnoticed. A magnificent boulder--yes, that's a house beside it--
or a huge exposed stone surface the size of a parking lot fails to attract any attention because it is "just part of the scenery".
Stone churches
and houses occasionally catch the eye of a passerby but the large rocks protruding from the ground nearby
rarely do. We ignore them until we have to plow a field or dig a foundation, and then we suddenly notice that we are on a surface which isn't easily relocated.
Often you can see boulders the size of a VW "beetle" piled off to the side of a structure. The boulders have been blasted to make way for a home or church or other structure, and then they are left on the property, cast aside as though they are compost.
Occasionally large boulders are piled into aesthetically-pleasing arrangements, but it takes some effort to do this, as you can imagine.
Boulders provide backdrops for flowers and other things.
Boulders make great yard art as well as a built-in playground.
These rocks provide a secure place for trees to grow.
Masons all over the country have cut Rowan County stone, primarily granite, for use in prominent buildings.
In Rowan County, granite is used to construct functional landscaping walls
as well as walls in buildings, fireplace hearths, countertops, steps, tables and benches.
A stone wall can look natural, like a row of piled rocks, or it can be made of cut stone laid in neat rows
Neat rows can be made with almost-uniform-size stones:
or with rocks of different sizes:
Sometimes stones in a wall are placed in a less orderly manner.
The stone buildings in Faith
have a variety of colors and patterns.
Regardless of which style you prefer, you have to agree that they look solid:
I admire the craftsmanship that created the curves in the stone entrance to the Faith Fire Department:
Notice how the larger, heavier rocks are at the bottom of the structure:
Look at the neat, linear work of the stone mason who filled in the window to the right of the door. (The slightly-arched lintel delineates the spot behind the air conditioner.)
Some masons add some interest or whimsy to their work, such as the diamond shapes in this chimney:
The eastern part of Rowan County, in particular, where lie the aptly-named towns of GRANITE Quarry and ROCKwell, have impressive boulders protruding from the ground, still attached to the bedrock beneath the grass. Those are the boulders I love to see—the ones still attached to the rock below ground.
Buck and I traveled to Granite Quarry, Faith, and Rockwell in search of these yard boulders. One of my favorites was this whale-shaped “Moby” Rock.
(#56)
Others
looked like shells of the giant tortoises I saw when I was a kid at the Alligator Farm in Florida. The employees let us ride the old tortoises! The tortoise-keeper explained the difference between a turtle and a tortoise, and also told us these tortoises we were riding were between 80 and 100 years old. I felt guilty about riding an old “granpaw” tortoise, imagining his achy, arthritic legs struggling to carry me at around 65 lbs. Later I learned that these huge Galapagos tortoises can live to be almost 200 years old and weigh up to 600 pounds. I guess the Alligator Farm wasn't abusing the tortoises.
The man at the alligator den who was demonstrating how fast and powerfully an alligator can close its mouth was missing one of his hands and forearm. We wondered if maybe one time he hadn’t been quick enough. He also showed us how he could keep the alligator’s mouth shut quite easily because almost all of its muscles were oriented toward biting down instead of opening. But I digress…
If you have a favorite yard-boulder, send me a photo of it, along with its general location.
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