Isabella's Stones:  Fieldstone Buildings, Walls, Landscape Accents & Other Uses

                                                                                                                    Above is Cover of  Report.

XXXXXXXXXMuch of the information given here is also available as a PDF file on CONDOR (CMU ONline Digital Object Repository):
    "Isabella Stones:  ...":  http://condor.cmich.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p1610-01coll1/id/3225/rec/6

          The original report consists of 170 pages, and includes more than 150 photographs (several of which are composites).   The Table of Contents is given below the following URL.

           That complete report is available as a PDF file in CMU'S DIGITAL COLLECTIONS.  The following URL provides direct access to the report:

https://scholarly.cmich.edu/cgi-bin/imageserver.pl?oid=CMUOther2008-02&getpdf=true

Contents
Preface xi
Introduction 1

The Stones
The Mortar 2

Associated materials

 

1. Public Buildings 3
Churches 3

St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Church, Beal City
Coomer United Methodist Church, Deerfield Township 6
Christ the King Lutheran Chapel, Mt. Pleasant 8

Church of Christ, Shepherd      9
Church of the Nazarene, Weidman

Free Methodist Church, Jerseyville     10

St. Henry Catholic Church, Isabella Township
12 Schoolhouses 13

Broomfield School #2

Coldwater School, Section 1     14
Nottawa School #3 14

Possible former school, Blanchard 15
Town Hall 16

Brinton Town Hall
Lodge 18

4-H Camp Lodge, Coldwater Lake
Commercial buildings 19

Cornerstone Professional Building, Mt. Pleasant
Garage, Winn 20

 

2. Houses 21
Fieldstone houses 21

Special residences 33
Parts of houses 36

Corners

Doorway and window surrounds 38
Ornamentations 39

Chimneys 42 Foundations                           43
Porches 45
Posts 46

Indoor uses 47
Arts and crafts
Ballast 48
Bed warmers
Chimneys
Cisterns 49
Cold cellar
Doorstops
Fireplaces
Humidifiers 50
Knobs        51
Paperweights

Sauerkraut cocks
Wood stove hearth

  <>
3. Barns and outbuildings   53
Barns 53

Outbuildings       60
Blacksmith shop 61
Bullpen

Carriage house and granary           62
?Cellar    63

Cowshed 64
Corn-crib
Doghouse          65
Granaries

                        <>Hen-house & Kennel
                        Hog/pig-house
                        Milk-houses 66

 Potato cellar     66
?Potting shed       67

 Pump house       68
 Root cellars

 Silos 69
 Smokehouses
 Storage shed       70
 Sugar "shanty"
 Summer kitchen 71
 Well houses
 Windmill support

  <>
4. Walls 73

Culvert headers 75
Decorative walls 76 
Driveway "dots" 78
Fences

Foundations 80
Lane sides
Ramp sides
Retaining walls

Well housings 81

  <>
5. Landscape accents 83
                       Boulder entities 84

"Collections" 85
"Display frames" 86

Edging     88

Floors and paths   89
Fountains and falls
Groundcover         90
Pond margins     91
Rock gardens      93
Stepping stones
Stones atop stones
Terrace borders 95
Total landscapes
Well housings (faux)


6. Other uses 97
Known uses 97

Barbecues

Birdbaths, birdfeeders and birdhouses
Blinds for hunters 98

Bridge

Bridge abutments \
Bus hut    100
Drainage fields
Driveway base
Driveway "dots"

Entry deterrents 101
Erosion control 102
Exposed aggregate       103
Fire rings 104

Fireplaces

Fish ponds 105
Fish "reef" 106
Flowerpots
Garages 107
Gravel
Gravestones
Hitching posts 109
Jewelry

Labyrinth 110
Mailboxes
Markers

Mausoleums       114

Miscellaneous-uses by animals and birds
Nutcrackers

Oil field machine shop?

Outhouses 115
Pebble mosaics

Pillars       116
Pillows       119
Planters

Pool house
Projectiles

Roof pebbles    120
 Saunas

"Seawalls" 121
"Sitting room"

Sport pieces   122
Stone therapy

                      Teaching aids 122
                      Thirst quencher 123
                       Tools <>Urns
                    Weights
                        "Weirs"      124
                       Worry stones

Probable uses 126

 

7. Sources of fieldstones 129

Where did Isabella’s fieldstones come from? 129
Where do Isabella’s fieldstones occur? 134

 

8. Stones, rocks and their origins 139
Sizes of stones 139

Shapes of stones 140
Compositions 140

Igneous rocks
Sedimentary rocks
Metamorphic rocks
Migmatites


Epilogue 152 <>Appendix A. Townships in Isabella County 153
Appendix B. Geology of Isabella County, a résumé 155
Appendix C. Fieldstone Houses and Other  Buildings in Isabella County 157
Glossary 161
Selected References 167

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R.V ("Dick") Dietrich (b. 1924), a native of the St. Lawrence Valley, Northern New York, is a graduate of Colgate University (A.B.), and Yale University (M.S. & Ph.D -- Geology).  Now retired, he was a College professor of Geology, with Petrology his main field of research.  He has authored or coauthored many professional papers and books, some of which are textbooks, and also 14 web sites, most of which are available at http://stoneplus.cst.cmich.edu/Default.htm .   For additional informaton, click the following link: XXXX
R.V. Dietrich © 2018

| Home |
R.V ("Dick") Dietrich (b. 1924), a native of the St. Lawrence Valley, Northern New York, is a graduate of Colgate University (A.B.), and Yale University (M.S. & Ph.D -- Geology).  Now retired, he was a College professor of Geology, with Petrology his main field of research.  He has authored or coauthored many professional papers and books, some of which are textbooks, and also 14 web sites, most of which are available at http://stoneplus.cst.cmich.edu/Default.htm .   For additional informaton, click the following link: XXXX

R.V. Dietrich © 2018
Updated 8 August 2018