Stone walls add beauty and texture
BY MARY LANCASTER INDEPENDENT WRITER

PHOTO BY BRIDGET CHAMPOUX This stone wall built by David Champoux can be found on Tetawkemo Road.

Within the last decade, stone walls have become a popular addition to homeowners' landscapes. In their simplest form, they are appealing for their textural beauty, but they can be enhanced with small lighting tucked within the stones or as a vessel for plantings that do not require a lot of water, such as Hens and Chickens, other succulents or low-growing herbs like thyme.

Two well-known island landscapers, Nick Ferrantella and David Champoux, build walls with their sons and other relatives. Champoux and his son Ben are about halfway through completion of a special wall commissioned by The 'Sconset Trust at the former site of Sankaty Lighthouse. The three-foot-high wall is being created from native boulders and rubble discovered when the land was excavated for the lighthouse move last year, as well as from portions of the light's original foundation. Champoux, who also employs his sonin law Chris Montgomery, built other unique walls called columbariums at The 'Sconset Chapel in 1980 and 1995 that contain niches under the cap stone and serve as resting spots for urns of remains of parishioners interred there. Those walls are of a chunky type of bluestone.

Liberty wall stone used for a retaining wall. PHOTO BY NICK FERRANTELLA

Both Champoux and Ferrantella, who builds his walls with sons Victor and Ben and his cousin Mike Stefanski, primarily work with field stone, which is preferred for Nantucket walls by the Historic District Commission. The HDC must approve walls and does so on a case-by-case basis with the essence of its guidelines focusing on walls that will be visible from a publicly traveled way. The HDC does not approve freestanding walls. While many areas of New England have free-standing stone walls, they are not traditional on Nantucket. Instead, the HDC wants stone walls to be built for retaining purposes and made of a somewhat rounded New England field stone instead of flat, gauged stone such as Pennsylvania field stone.

Ferrantella is working on three walls at the moment and will be starting another soon. He said most retaining walls are about four feet high, though one he is doing now is just two feet tall with an attractive backfilled and planted slope behind it.

PHOTO BY NICK FERRANTELLA Connecticut White Line wall

"When you create different levels in landscaping, it makes it more interesting," he said. "Any stone wall will be a substantial part of the landscaping."

He prefers Liberty stone which is similar to granite, but chunky, for a handsome formal setting.

Field stone is the least expensive, provides a rustic look and blends well with gravel driveways and granite steps. Connecticut White Line, while not actually white, is in the mid-price category but takes longer to construct because of the need to chink and fit in small pieces between the cracks of the rocks.

"It's fun to have different stone to work with," he said. "Some builders use cement foundation walls and face them with stones, but we actually build them."

Ferrantella and Champoux agree that one of the keys to a quality stone wall is to utilize a carpenter's level to ensure the rows are level, even though there may be some variation in stone sizes as the layers are applied.

PHOTO BY BRIDGET CHAMPOUX 'Sconset Chapel Columbarium contains niches under the cap stone that serve as resting spots for urns of parishioners interred there.

"When you put the final layer on it, it should be flat. That really sets the tone for the rest of the wall," said Ferrantella, who learned the science from trial and error and watching other skilled hardscapers.

The men generally begin with a gravel base eight-to-10-inches deep and build the first stone level as compacted and even as possible and slightly wider than the higher courses. As the wall goes up, gravel and mortar are added for stabilizing purposes, then stones are pushed into the mortar in the back of the wall to make its face even stronger and give the wall its body.

"Stone walls have become popular in the last 10 to 15 years," Ferrantella said. "Most of the walls we do are for aesthetics, but if they are for that and retaining, it's ideal. Keep in mind that it can be a big part of the landscape budget, but it will last forever and can become the centerpiece of a landscape. We love to build them. It really is one of the more fun things to do on a project.

"You need skill and patience — you have to be calm when you build a stone wall," he continued. "It's a touch and feel kind of a thing because every stone has to be handled and maybe flaked or chipped with a hammer. The most important part of the wall that you don't see is the stability of the walls as you build them."

Champoux, who learned about building walls from his father, who built several in Holyoke, Mass. and his brother, who used to be a stone mason, added the potential for a decorative waterfall on a wall as another attractive feature. He noted that in some instances a property must be graded to accommodate a wall that is not too high to be approved. He said if a wall is to be eight or nine feet high, the building department becomes involved and wants to see engineering in the construction process so the wall is reinforced.

He explained that a solid stone wall must have overlapping joints similar to the way brick foundations and chimneys are built to prevent the wall from later collapse. He, too, begins with a gravel base, but said if a wall is to be veneered it must be strengthened with concrete block or poured concrete behind it and a concrete footing. While he said there is a lot of planning and work that goes into building stone walls, it is something he enjoys.

"It's fun to see the result," he said. "It really adds to the landscape of any house to have a nicely built wall. Stonework is pretty straightforward. It's the material you work with and how you put it together. There are a lot of aesthetics involved. You have to have an eye for it."

Ferrantella and Champoux said the cost of a stone wall is calculated by multiplying the length by the height and adding in the cost of the stone that is chosen, mortar and gravel, transportation of the stone from the mainland, tax, labor and equipment required. Both men can offer cost estimates based on this information. I