Guidelines - Stone Wall Maintenance
Stone walls are significant elements of Lincoln’s roadsides. Most are drystone, without mortar. Gravity keeps everything in place. One advantage is that they can be taken apart and reassembled. A small amount of annual care is needed to keep your stone wall standing. Start by patroling your walls each spring and following these guidelines:
a. Monitor, preserve and maintain existing stone walls, replacing stones knocked off by weather or visitors.
b. Keep walls free of growth, removing invasives, vines, brush and volunteer saplings.
c. When removing saplings and trees, cut at roots and stump. Do not pull out by roots as this
can damage the stone wall.
d. Use traditional techniques [hotlink] to maintain, repair and construct stone walls, according to the
type of wall. Many Lincoln walls are informal farmers’ walls, not mortared walls.
e. Use recommended ground covers from Roadside Plantings of Merit in front of stone walls, to avoid entanglement and to
preserve views of the wall.
Stone walls along Lincoln's Scenic Byways are protected and monitored by the Planning Board.