Mending Fencing Complete

Slightly less than one month ago, on July 29, 2024 I posted a fence update. Glen and Tony had started overdue maintenance on the front fence that runs parallel to Lake Shore Road between Rosslyn and Lake Champlain. Like the majority of ongoing and recurring responsibilities of stewarding an historic property, mending fencing is deliberate, detail oriented, and demands plenty of patient perseverance.

This afternoon I reveal photographs of the finished project. Yes, mending fencing is complete. For now, though never forever. As I’ve suggested previously (ie. “Fences & Neighbors” and “Mending Wall”) — and as Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” articulates with righteous rhythm — the business of mending fencing, indeed fencing at all, is a never-ending commitment. And, as often in the endeavor of historic rehabilitation, there’s a mysterious ebb and flow between the demands of today and the preservation of once upon a time.

Much like the fieldstone wall that Robert Frost describes, wood fencing and weather wrestle quietly but persistently for the upper hand. Ongoing maintenance like refereeing offers an occasional advantage to the fence, but nature is never defeated for long… I’ll leave you to consider the merits of erecting barriers, aesthetically meritorious or otherwise, as a sort of Sisyphean tradition. (Source: Mending Fences)

Ever since our 2006 honeymoon with Rosslyn back in the summer of 2006 we’ve favored preserving rather than replacing, repairing rather than demolishing, maintaining rather than abandoning. Unlike new construction (that too often feels factory finished, plastic, ersatz, even slightly soulless), much of the allure for me in rehabilitating and renovating, preservation and adaptive reuse, is the patina of time’s passage. Buildings and artifacts enriched by the lives and stories they’ve been a part of. A complex claret that has evolved over decades. Oldness is richer, more nuanced, and ever so much more intriguing than newness. Wabi-sabi awakens my wonder and invites me into the timeless tale…

When mending fencing, we allow the timeless tale to be told and the backstory to be celebrated. Whether in the icehouse terrace stone walls that were rebuilt out of 2-century old, locally quarried stone foundations, or the fence that defines Rosslyn’s front yard, a close inspection will welcome inquisitive minds into the long and fascinating sweep of Rosslyn’s past. Today is intimately braided out of yesterday. And that, my friends, demands plenty of patience persistence. Fortunately Glen’s enduring dedication to the fence project is testament to his endurance and his passion for the people who’ve come before us as well as those who’ll come after us. Thank you, Tony and Glen, for mending fencing. And thank you, Glen, finishing up all of the repainting!