On the labour day weekend Sept 5th and 6th 2009 the Dry Stone Wall Association of Canada, in conjunction with the Friends of Ferris Park ran a special hands-on beginner's dry stone walling workshop at Ferris Park near Campbellford Ontario where students of all ages and skills took part in a project where we rebuilt two sections of heritage wall and learned the basic techniques of dry laid construction, as well as learning about stiles and various structural solutions to sympathetic repair of historic stone walls.
A view of one historic dry stone wall at Ferris park
The DSWAC's I R consultant Evan Oxland inspects the remains of a Ferris Park wall
Ferris Park Repair
. Finished repair
Students from Utah, Michigan and Ontario took part in a workshop which included restoring an interesting section of old dry stone wall which once had stile steps incorporated into it.
Lunches in Ferris Park
A lot of the arrangements for this weekend event, including two lovely prepared meals, were provided by a volunteer group called Friends of Ferris Park, headed up by Barb Hogan.
Repaired cheekends at Ferris Park
Completed cheekends at the Ferris Provincial Park Restoration Clinic held the 2009 Labour Day weekend in Ontario Canada.
Damage to walls at ferris Park due to putting in camp roads.
This the section of historic wall, which had been damaged by the road having been put through it, had to be repaired by DSWAC students during the Ferris Park dry stone wall restoration clinic.
One of the the many walls needing repair at Ferris Park near Campbellford, Ontario
Ferris Provincial park near Campbellford Ontario with all its miles of dry stone walls should be a national heritage site
A network of walls, easily three or four miles long and at least a hundred years old crisscross this area of beautiful rolling farmland and is now an important feature of this property which now is a stately 200 hectare provincial park. A small number of students registered to participate in this two day event which included free camping in the park, two lunches, refreshments and written instructional material. The course covered important walling elements such as cheek ends, corners, through-stones, hearting, batter and various types of coping.
Plans are in place to make this an annual event
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