Dan Tressler views old stone walls as sculptures, ones that have been given shape and brought to life by a builder who has selected and stacked each stone to support its own weight and dimension.
“Sometimes I’ll see a stone wall that’s hundreds of years old, intact and beautiful, and I’ll go inspect it and figure out why,” said Tressler, owner of Farmer Wall in Easton. “The earth is always vibrating and shifting, and these styles of walls can be built so they can shift with the earth. I think it’s really cool to build a sculpture that can be a part of something like that.”
Tressler is not only an admirer of stone walls, he’s on a mission to repair and preserve these iconic structures that border fields and farms throughout New England.
A professional bluegrass and country musician whose family owns Tressler’s Barn in Easton, his journey in stone wall construction began at the age of 8 when he and his father first built stone walls on their property. Although he had a career in computer design, at age 29 Tressler’s focus shifted to his family and their farm after his father had a stroke.
He soon began helping others in his community with various projects.
“Eventually someone asked me to fix their stone wall,” said Tressler. “I did it and I enjoyed it and what I learned as a child started coming back to me.”
Tressler repairs and constructs stone walls using a dry stacking method that has been around for thousands of years, in which stones are fitted together without the use of any binder like mortar or cement.
“Dry stacking walls allows them to be repaired easily and manicured and is way easier than any concrete,” said Tressler. “Every stone should be locked into another stone. I’ve adhered to these rules that will make my stone walls last a really, really long time.”
Many contemporary stone walls in New England are poorly built, which causes them to fall apart more easily than their older counterparts. You may notice this issue while driving in the region, even in cases where concrete has been used in construction.
Robert M. Thorson, Professor of Earth Science at the University of Connecticut, and an expert in stone walls, said New England’s stone walls are natural habitats that benefit the environment and deserve attention and regulation.
Their massive scale, spanning an estimated 240,000 miles, surpasses iconic structures like the Great Wall of China. Despite their significance, these walls have never received a legal framework or management protocols and many have fallen into disrepair, according to Thorson, who founded the Stone Wall Initiative to protect New England’s stone walls.
“Despite their importance, never have the stone walls of New England been technically defined, classified and given a common terminology in a peer-reviewed journal,“ said Thorson. “They fell, it seems, through disciplinary cracks.”
The absence of clear regulations and standardized practices makes it complicated for Tressler to find reliable help. Additionally, the challenging nature of the work restricts the number of projects he’s physically able to take on.
“I’m particular about the type of work that I do,” said Tressler. “I want the wall to be appreciated.”
For more information, you can contact Tressler through his Facebook page or by phone at 203-258-7399.
