How to Build a Cobblestone House

He huffed and he puffed and he blew the house down - certainly not if the house was built with cobblestones. Building cobblestone houses was a folk art that flourished in upstate New York from 1825 until the Civil War in 1860. Many of the 700+ cobblestone homes that were built survive today, a testament to their fine craftsmanship.

To build your cobblestone house you'll need 5 main components: cobblestones, soft lime mortar, wood for windows and doors, cut stone blocks for quoins, lintels and sills, and lots of cheap labor. Lets take them one at a time ? assuming the cheap labor is you, your family, friends, relatives and anyone else you can convince to do manual labor for $1.00 to $1.50 per day.

The first step is to gather the cobblestones. This may take several years. Cobblestones are small fist-sized stones deposited by the glaciers that swept from the north millennia ago. Rough-shaped ones can be gathered from the farm fields or rounded, lake-washed ones can be gathered along the shore of Lake Ontario. You'll need over 14,000 cobblestones, so get cracking. As the manly work of stone gathering progresses, the women and children can be kept busy sorting the stones by size and color. You'll want to use the finest, smoothest, similar-sized stones on the front of your house, and save the rougher, odd-sized ones for the back, sides and interior of the walls.

While this is progressing, you better start preparing the soft lime mortar. Don't skimp and use Portland cement. It dries too fast and will pop the cobbles out as it dries. Soft lime mortar is made of lime, sand and water. Find limestone (calcium carbonate) or dolomite (magnesium carbonate) and break it into pieces. Burn it within heaps of logs for 2 to 3 days to create quicklime. Add water to the quicklime to create a hydrated lime sludge.

Mix in 5 to 9 bushels of sand to 1 bushel of lime sludge. Age the mortar in a ground pit covered by sand or cow manure for up to a year. Fell a bunch of trees. They'll need to be hand-hewn to build the doors and windows ? each custom fitted to a specific opening. Also, find a quarry where you can get limestone or sandstone blocks for the corners of your building (quoins) and as structural support over the doors and windows (lintels) and under the windows (sils).

Now the fun begins. Start by laying the stones in walls 18 to 20-inches-thick. Build the wall with rubble stone, faced by cobbles. Use elongated or triangular shaped stones to tie the cobbles to the rubble wall. Use the soft lime mortar as your glue, getting fancy with straight ridges between the horizontal and vertical rows of cobbles. Build about 3 rows (or courses) per day so the mortar has time to slowly begin setting. It will take 35 years for the mortar to fully harden. Lay in the cut-stone blocks at the corners to create quoins. To finish the inside, apply horsehair plaster to the stone.

Once the walls are above reach, you'll have to build scaffolding by burying poles in the ground 6 to 8 feet from the wall and tying cross members from the wall to the poles with hickory witches. Then lay planks on the cross members to provide a building platform. As the walls rise, you'll have to repeatedly raise the height of the scaffolding. Attach a crane and tackles to the highest pole to winch up buckets of cobblestones and mortar. Hand build your windows and doors to fit each opening and hand-hew trusses for your roof. Winter is a good time to do much of your carpentry work. Depending on how many workers you have and their skill level, you may finish in a year. More likely, the building process will take about 3 years.

When you're done, you'll have a fine home that will stand for centuries. Go see for yourself. A new guidebook called "Cobblestone Quest ? Road Tours of New York's Historic Buildings" (Footprint Press, www.footprintpress.com, 1-800-431-1579) offers 17 self-guided car or bicycle tours for viewing the diversity of cobblestone buildings clustered within a 65-mile radius of Rochester, NY, and no where else in the world.

"Cobblestone Quest - Road Tours of New York's Historic Buildings" By Rich & Sue Freeman

17 self-guided car or bicycle tours for learning the history and observing the diversity of unique cobblestone buildings in Western New York State. http://www.footprintpress.com/Cobblestone/CobblestonePreview.htm 208 pages, 20 maps, 85 photos, indexed, paperback, 10 X 7 inches Price: $19.95, ISBN# 1930480199 Footprint Press, Inc., www.footprintpress.com

### Photos available ? email sue@footprrintpress.com or call 585-421-9383.

Rich and Sue Freeman decided to make their living from what they love-being outdoors. In 1996 they left corporate jobs to spend six months hiking 2,200 miles on the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. That adventure inspired them to share this love by introducing others to the joys of hiking. They decided to focus on short hikes, near home and wrote "Take A Hike! Family Walks in the Rochester Area." They went on to explore hiking, backpacking, bicycling, skiing, and snowshoeing trails, waterfalls, and waterways for paddling throughout central and western New York State. Along the way, they kept discovering unique and beautiful places in this region. They saw unusual "potato" houses (to quote an architectural student visiting the area from New York City). Of course, these weren't potato houses at all. They were cobblestone houses. They not only inspired the architectural student, but they inspired the Freemans to find out more and share their find with others. Cobblestone Quest is the result of that curiosity. This is the Freemans' 14th guidebook.

---

Restaurant Manager Gives Out Sexual Favors As Performance Bonus, Raise

While many restaurant workers worry and sweat in anticipation of... Read More

Tales of a Spectator Spectator

Watching the fans at a minor-league baseball game is just... Read More

Discover the Lighter Side of the Internet

We all know the Internet is a great tool for... Read More

[Not So] Outgoing Mail

I am currently perplexed by the concept of outgoing mail.... Read More

A Lawyers Favorite Lawyer Jokes

Lawyer JokesQ: How does a pregnant woman know she is... Read More

How to Build a Cobblestone House

He huffed and he puffed and he blew the house... Read More

Maybelle Misfire Joins Mega Corp

To: Maybelle Misfire From: I. M.. Power, VP Welcome aboard!... Read More

Mexican Spaminator

When we decided to move to Mexico, one of the... Read More

A French Teachers Memories: First Day at School

Despite my diplomas that allowed me to teach in state... Read More

25 Reasons You Might Need to Wear a Welding Helmet

A welding helmet is a safety device worn for protection... Read More

The Jokes On You -- Who Should be the Butt of Your Jokes?

This article was prompted by something I heard (second hand)... Read More

The Worlds First Comedian?

If you ever saw Aristophanes live on stage, you must... Read More

Lactose Intolerant? It could be a good thing

Lactose Intolerant Individuals may prove a bonus in Space Missions.... Read More

Computers According to Carol

A is for Anti-Virus: she got it from my Uncle.B... Read More

Cloning Advantage Super Families

As the cloning debate of humankind continues we find ourselves... Read More

Used Condom Found In Restaurant Salad Bar; Waiter Embarrassed To Tears

Evidence of after-hours activity turned up at a Big Boy... Read More

If, An Online Marketers Internet Addiction Poem, Can You Relate to This?

IF, An Online Internet Marketing PoemIf before you have turned... Read More

If Real People Ran the Bank - I (a spoof for the heart)

Banish Loans ForeverIf ordinary, hard-working, people ran the bank... the... Read More

Its All About Seeing the Signs

Ace of Base hasn't seen the sign for quite some... Read More

Got Originality?

There are many ways to be original these days. But... Read More

Humor Under The Keyboards

For me, the piano is the symbol of what is... Read More

The Army Corp of Engineers Having Issues Fixing Breach

The Army Corp of engineers is having a tough time... Read More

Space, and the Room for It

Space exploration came a long way since I was the... Read More

Short Story: Take a Trip To The Temple Of The Great Tomato

Jimmy Jenkins Jr. is not an adventurer, traveler, or pioneer.... Read More

Poor Rixs Almanac 8-13-05

Dear Poor Rix: A guy just invited me to a... Read More

Dog Poo - And You Thought You Had Problems

In Southern Germany in a town by the name of... Read More

Marines Dont Take Crap

We... Read More

Local Author Joins History and Humor To Tell His Stories

Joseph Yakel was born and raised in New York's Capital... Read More

Essential Laughter

Take time to laugh at yourself and the ridiculous in... Read More

Valet Parking: Theft with Consent

This column is long overdue. To put it in library... Read More

Coffee Tips (and the Elimination Thereof)

I have recently become frustrated with something at doughnut establishments,... Read More

11 Alternative Garden Games

Tired of the same ol', same ol' when it come... Read More

Not Your Average Sunday Morning

Just recently my ex-husband stopped in to visit during his... Read More