Scattered across the plains of central Montana are the remnants of countless homestead-era stone buildings built in the late-19th and early-20th centuries by long-forgotten European immigrants. Some are mostly standing while others are little more than the rectangular-shaped ruins of a stone foundation from some long forgotten homesteader’s house or barn.
These buildings were typically built from fieldstone that homesteaders cleared from their fields and mixed with low-grade lime mortar made on site. Although most of the original homesteaders gave up and moved on, the ruins of their stone buildings still remain as reminders of a difficult life.
Modern Reproductions
We are frequently asked to re-create the appearance of these homestead-era buildings, but with stone that works in modern construction. Our favorite stone for this looks is Homestead Fieldstone.
We collect Homestead Fieldstone from piles of stone that generations of homesteaders cleared from their fields. These same piles were the stone source for the old homestead-era stone buildings. The difference is we now sort and chop the fieldstone to fit into a modern 6″ thick masonry wall.
We also cut Homestead Fieldstone into 1″ to 1 1/2″ thin veneer as show below. This can be applied to walls that lack the bearing capacity for full thickness stone.
