The following information was gathered from a variety of sources, including the recommended readings: “Sermons in Stone” by Susan Allport, “Stone by Stone” by Robert M. Thorson, and “A Guide to New England Stone Structures” by Mary and James Gage.
In the early days of our state, settlers cleared the land and used wood to build homes, barns, mills, meeting houses, small schoolhouses, and firewood. They created pastures for livestock and farming. Fences were often made from wood and tree stumps, while larger rubble walls came from cleared land. Rock piles and walls were often the result of clearing land rather than marking property lines, as many believe.
Heating a farmstead required over 20 cords of wood, creating a high demand for timber that became increasingly scarce around the time of the Revolution. As a result, stone walls replaced wooden fences for enclosures. This set the stage for the next major development:
In the early 1800s, a major shift occurred with the start of the Great Sheep Boom. An economic crisis hit in 1807, spurred by the Embargo Act of 1807, the Nonintercourse Act of 1809, and the War of 1812. These events disrupted trade, preventing U.S. factories from purchasing wool from Britain and stopping American farmers from selling grain overseas. As a result, many grain and wheat farmers turned to raising Merino wool sheep instead.
Merino wool, known as the finest grade of wool, originated in Portugal. Although Merino sheep were protected from export, William Jarvis, the U.S. consul to Portugal, managed to bring 4,000 sheep to his farm in Vermont, near the New Hampshire border and the town of Claremont. The sheep population grew rapidly, and by 1825, Vermont was home to 1.7 million sheep.
More Land Is Cleared, and Extensive Stone Walls Are Built
Merino wool was in high demand worldwide and became a profitable agricultural product for settlers. Many joined the movement, and by the end, nearly 80 percent of New Hampshire had been cleared. Rock walls were built everywhere, including throughout Salisbury, as evident from any walk in the forest.
The walls stood about as high as a man’s thigh, with wooden fencing added on top to increase their height. According to the 1840 census, New Hampshire was home to as many as 600,000 sheep. The Sawyer family kept Merino sheep high on the slopes of Mt. Kearsarge, on a spot known locally as Sawyer’s Hill—a spur of the mountain visible from Smith’s Corners. The whole area had been cleared.
A project is currently in progress by another organization to map the stone walls of New Hampshire. It is an ongoing effort. Below is a map of the Salisbury crossroads area (Route 127 and Route 4).
The surrounding areas of New England were part of the Great Sheep Boom, during which an estimated 250,000 miles of rock walls were constructed across New England and New York State.
It is estimated that there are over 240,000 miles of stone walls in New England. New England Is Crisscrossed With Thousands of Miles of Stone Walls
Fluctuations and Then the Sheep Boom Is Over
It began strongly, with wool priced at 57 cents per pound in 1835, but by 1840, it had dropped to 25 cents.
What drove these fluctuations and eventually caused such a lucrative industry to decline? Competition from large farms in the western U.S., Australia, and Argentina.
In 1840, New England had 4 million sheep, but by 1860, that number was halved. There was a brief revival during the Civil War when cotton became scarce, but the industry had fundamentally shifted.
Population Shift
By 1850, however, the Great Sheep Boom was over. It lasted for only several decades, and the forest slowly returned, so now in the deepest parts of New Hampshire’s forests, one finds stonewalls just about everywhere.
By 1850, there was an exodus beginning out of New Hampshire. Farmers moved west where the soil was rich, and because of the expanding railroads and waterways of the Erie Canal, products could be shipped east easily.
Changes in the population of Salisbury:
- In 1820 were 2,016
- By 1860, it was 1,191
- By 1900, it was 604
- By 1930, the population of Salisbury hit its low point of 350.
Terms relating to early fencing and clearing the land
Wormwall– a zig-zag, Virginia split rail type fencing used before stone walls when wood was readily available. Field stones were often thrown against it, and began the foundation of the next generation of wall, a zigzag, wormy rock wall.
Stile– a part of a wall with steps built in so the farmers could avoid using a gate and still get over the wall.
Cairn– an organized rock pile, rather deliberate, that may have Native American origins. Different from rock piles, even those found in large numbers, are about 12 feet apart in their layout. Rock piles were likely the result of incomplete wall-building projects by colonists. They are generally separated by about 12 feet, the length a person can throw a fieldstone.
The pin and feather method by which settlers, 1774-1820, broke up stones, leaving the markings of 2 of 3 holes.
Erratics- rock material laid down upon the earth by the last ice age.
A stone boat– a flat-bottom sled pulled by oxen to haul stones.
Stone fence (lower stone wall)-one way property boundaries were marked.
Stone fence (higher stone wall)- According to Robert M. Thorson in his book Stone By Stone, published by Bloomsbury, 2002, p.97: “In general, however, the legal height of a fence in the colonies was between four and five feet. A substandard fence prevented a landowner from suing owners of wayward stock, and vice versa. Empirically, it had to be “sheep high, bull strong, and hog tight.” The last criterion was the most demanding”.
Fence viewer appointed official who regularly checked on town fencing (stone walls included) to make sure all complied. According to Robert M. Thorson in his book Stone By Stone, p.97: “… in the late colonial period, they would cruise rural land like the state troopers of today, looking for trouble and writing citations”.
Town pound– a pen for escaped farm animals, pictured above.
According to Robert M. Thorson in his book Stone By Stone, p.97, regarding Town Pounds:
“Highest of them all, up to eight feet tall, were the walls of town pounds (animal jails) which held animals that had already tasted the “call of the wild”.
“New England did not become stony until the Laurentide Ice Sheet invaded the region from central Canada some 15-30,000 years ago.”- Stone by Stone by Robert M. Thorson.Â
So one could humorously say, our beautiful Salisbury stone walls were “Made in Canada, assembled in New England.”