The Stone Trust

06/01/2026

June Waller of the Month: Brian Post

Brian Post (Vermont) – Brian is a DSWA-GB Master Craftsman, Instructor, Assessor, and Vermont Licensed Landscape Architect with over four decades of experience. He specializes in dry stone construction and historic masonry restoration and founded Standing Stone LLC in 2010 to meet the growing demand for this type of work. Since 2013, he has managed large-scale dry stone projects, and since 2019, he has led crews of up to two dozen DSWA-GB Certified Wallers. Brian is known for assembling skilled teams for complex dry stone projects.

Featured Image: A residential project in Ludlow, Vermont designed and built by Standing Stone LLC. The steep site needed numerous retaining walls. The walls were built in various styles of herringbone, some loosely and some rigidly coursed. Granite was used for various details and Goshen stone was used for the patios. The predominant stone was rip-rap that was split and shaped on site.

Second Image: Herringbone-style retaining wall with a corbeled niche from the same project in Ludlow. This project was led by Brian Post and built with Phil O’Donnell, Ethan Bodin, Jeb Porter, and Jamieson Porter. With assistance from Ben Sandri, Dave Foster, Amanda Kenyon, Connor Esons, and Jared Flynn.

standingstonevt.com Standing Stone LLC

05/31/2026

Stone Shaping Workshop in Minnesota

Try your hand at shaping stones with hammers, chisels, and power tools, too! Learn techniques and efficient methods for getting stones to break where you want them to. Come to the Stone Shaping Workshop on July 11 at the Stone Trust MN at Northland Landscape Supply & Nursery. Learn from Level 3 Waller, Dan Peterson from , to get all the tips and tricks for how to handle your stone shaping tools and different types of stone.

See more: https://thestonetrust.org/workshops/2-50-intro-to-stone-shaping-071126-mn/

05/30/2026

Feathers and Wedges

These seemingly simple Trow and Holden feather and wedge sets available on The Stone Trust Web store remain as significant today as they have been throughout history. The small but mighty tools play an important role in traditional dry stone walling and masonry. Feathers and wedges historically have been used extensively for quarrying rock out of hillsides. They can be employed to split down granite blocks to make throughstones and cheek end material.

Learn more about these mighty tools from this fantastic tool guide blog post:

https://thestonetrust.org/tool-guide-the-humble-feathers-and-wedges/

And get your own set here :

https://thestonetrust.org/product-category/tools/feathers-and-wedges/

05/29/2026

More Spots Added to New Hampshire 2-Day Intro

Due to the demand in the last week, we have added more spots to the 2-Day Intro in NH on June 13-14. It is so exciting to see all of you wallers getting ready for your spring and summer projects and wanting to learn how to build walls that will last. With the dates coming up fast, don't miss your chance.

See more: https://thestonetrust.org/workshops/1-20-2-day-intro-061326-nh/

05/27/2026

Come on out to Scott Farm Orchard tonight for Crepe Night!

Grab your friends and your taste buds and come on over to Scott Farm for a delicious summer evening of “crêpes for a cause!”

05/22/2026

May Test Day Continues Mission By Certifying Eight New Wallers

The Stone Trust started in 2010 with a mission to preserve and advance the art and craft of dry stone walling. Part of the mission was to certify wallers through the Dry Stone Walling Association of Great Britain to create a community of wallers in the US that could work on historic preservation of dry stone walls. Since 2010, the certified waller community in the US has grown exponentially. Once certified, wallers can work towards historic preservation efforts or other professional walling endeavors.

In an effort to make certification more accessible in the US, the Stone Trust Center at Scott Farm Orchard hosts two certification days a year, in the spring and fall. This May, eight wallers tested for Level I Certification and four wallers tested for Level II Certification. Both the Level I and Level II test require wallers to strip out and rebuild a section of wall with a surface area of roughly 27 square feet as measured on the face of the wall, but the Level II include a cheek end, or wall end, in their section of freestanding wall. The Level II Test is a significant step up from the Level I Test, as it is assessed at a higher standard as Level II is recognized as the worldwide professional walling standard. It takes Level II wallers more time in terms of practice and testing attempts typically than the Level I Test, demonstrating a true understanding of dry stone walling.

Read more: https://thestonetrust.org/may-test-day-vt-2026/

05/21/2026

Only 4 Signed Copies Left!

Don't miss your chance to get a signed copy of Dry Stone Walling: Materials and Techniques by Nick Aitken. In case you missed the book presentation by Nick in April, you can still get a signed book. Nick is a Level IV Master Craftsman who has traveled around the world learning about dry stone. Get your copy now before they are sold out!

https://thestonetrust.org/store/dry-stone-walling-materials-and-techniques/

05/15/2026

Footprint Line Pins – Pair

A wallers tradition! Wedge between stones in a wall, or hammer into the ground and then wind the line around batter frames, line pins are one of the few tools traditional wallers always had. This set comes with 2 pins and 30’ of top quality mason line. Ideal for rebuild and repair jobs, and great for new construction to. Typical to use two sets at once, one for each side of the wall. Once you get used to having them you can’t build without them.

See more: https://thestonetrust.org/store/footprint-line-pins-pair/

05/14/2026

Stone Shaping in Barre, VT June 6th

Only one more week to sign up for the Stone Shaping workshop in Barre, VT at the Vermont Granite Museum on June 6th. Learn how to work with different tools and different types of stone. Try your hand at shaping stones with hammers, chisels, and power tools, too! Learn techniques and efficient methods for getting stones to break where you want them to. Registration closes on May 23rd.

See more: https://thestonetrust.org/workshops/2-50-intro-to-stone-shaping-060626-barre-vt/

05/12/2026

Master Class: Britain’s walling treasures: Nine Standards Rigg
Written by Sean Adcock

A short while ago on the DSWA Website discussion page someone started a thread around the world in 80 dry stone structures following on from the similarly named TV series on gardens. I suggested that Britain would be big enough, and having annexed Ireland I am on a mission to identify all our stone wonders probably to create a slideshow and more fancifully a book. Former DSWA chairman Paul Webley suggested I call it something along the lines of ‘Britain’s Walling Treasures’, so that will do for a working title. I`m open to nominations I’ve made some suggestions on the website but I’m not going to repeat them here I’d appreciate any ideas, even repeated ones as several votes should say something about a structure or feature. New or old, large or small, single entity or group of features. All are welcome. So onto “The Nine standards”. These are a series of dry stone cairns on a ridge, above Kirby Stephen, on the Cumbria/North Yorkshire border. Not surprisingly there are nine of them and the ridge is creatively named “Nine Standards Rigg”.

Read more: https://thestonetrust.org/master-class-britains-walling-treasures-nine-standards-rigg/