The Fieldstone Fireplace... Outstanding In Its Field!
Fieldstone fireplace designs vary greatly, due to the wide range in size, shape, color and texture of the material, itself . . . . .
A very beautiful stone for building, fieldstone, never- theless, is relatively common with an earthy, natural
appearance. A fieldstone hearth has the look of dur- ability and strength, as in the striking example below,
right.
Fieldstone
is used to erect virtually any- thing that can be constructed with stone, including foundations and walls for buildings, retaining walls, fences, fireplaces, chimneys, landscape terrac- ing and waterfalls. The examples below depict a few of the ways -- in addition to fireplaces -- in which this natural building material can be utilized.
Above designs, except for waterfalls, were created by master stone artisan, Lew French.
By definition, fieldstone is stone collected from the surface of fields where it occurs naturally and is
subsequently used in its original shape, as shown in the examples below . . . . .
In practice, however, the definition has been expanded to include any archi- tectural stone recovered from
the topsoil OR subsoil and used not only in its original shape, but modified by cutting or splitting, as well.
In the following examples, the stones have been cut or split.
Most fieldstones have been left by glacial deposits and are rectangular to oval in shape. Though they
tend to be somewhat flat, the corners have been softened by thousands of years of weathering and tumbling.
They range in color from dark blues, grays and browns to light blues, grays and browns, rusts and light
buffs . . . depending upon their geographic loca- tion. For example, the fieldstone of Pennsylvania is
generally darker, with more dark blues and browns (below left) than the typically tan, light red, and light
blue fieldstone of New England (below right).
Following is a sampling of fieldstone fireplace designs -- for both indoors and out -- that in- corporates a variety of stone sizes, shapes, colors and textures. Some utilize stones or rocks in their original shapes, while others are made with stones that have been cut or split.
For more information about any of the fieldstone fireplaces pictured above, please
let us know
and we'll be happy to provide it for you.
Also, please check back often or subscribe to our
RSS feed,
as we continually add new photos of fieldstone hearths to our site.