Help identify this mystery stone structure in my friend's yard.
December 1, 2010 6:47 PM
Help identify this mystery stone structure in my friend's yard. [Pictures inside.]
Pictures here.
My friend lives in suburban St. Louis in an area that used to be wooded and was not developed until fairly recently. My friend's house was built in the 1970s or 80s and I think the property was an empty, wooded lot before that.
In the very back of the property, which is set up against the remaining woods, there is this strange stone structure that has always made us wonder.
The structure looks kind of like an altar -- it is a low wall with a pedestal type tying in front of the wall. The structure seems to be made out of some kind of porous rock. The rocks/stones are fitted together in a way that looks like the builder had some skill/training in stone-working, but I am just guessing.
So -- what is it? An altar? Some kind of outside cooking area? The remainder of a dwelling?
Child included in picture for scale. Thanks.
Pictures here.
My friend lives in suburban St. Louis in an area that used to be wooded and was not developed until fairly recently. My friend's house was built in the 1970s or 80s and I think the property was an empty, wooded lot before that.
In the very back of the property, which is set up against the remaining woods, there is this strange stone structure that has always made us wonder.
The structure looks kind of like an altar -- it is a low wall with a pedestal type tying in front of the wall. The structure seems to be made out of some kind of porous rock. The rocks/stones are fitted together in a way that looks like the builder had some skill/training in stone-working, but I am just guessing.
So -- what is it? An altar? Some kind of outside cooking area? The remainder of a dwelling?
Child included in picture for scale. Thanks.
Looks like the kind of thing you'd make out of concrete and stone and put a Virgin Mary on top of.
posted by Miko at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by Miko at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2010
Agreed it's probably cosmetic, but you may also want to check legal descriptions for your property to see if it might be an old survey mark or witness post of some sort. Some clear, close-up shots of the top and of the masonry work would also help, as the pictures are kind of fuzzy.
posted by crapmatic at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by crapmatic at 7:03 PM on December 1, 2010
Looks like a backyard grotto for a religious statue, as Miko suggests--a less elaborate version of this kind of thing.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:07 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:07 PM on December 1, 2010
OK - I added some better quality .jpgs of the masonry -- that's the best I have. Any guesses on age? Thanks.
posted by Mid at 7:10 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by Mid at 7:10 PM on December 1, 2010
Either a grotto or a sundial in a clearing. The rock's a heavily weathered limestone. You folks in MO do some great limestones.
posted by scruss at 7:48 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by scruss at 7:48 PM on December 1, 2010
My mother's house has a very similar stone-walled enclosure in her garden; it's just a little area where they put chairs and use it for garden parties/cocktails. I'm guessing the pedestal thing is very likely the base to a now-removed bird bath.
posted by holterbarbour at 7:57 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by holterbarbour at 7:57 PM on December 1, 2010
Thanks, I was looking for the word 'grotto' and it was escaping me. A little bit closer example. My money's on this, especially because it looks a little shady of a spot for a sundial.
posted by Miko at 8:55 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by Miko at 8:55 PM on December 1, 2010
Yeah, I'm with the religious grotto guesses. I'm almost willing to bet there was a statue of St. Francis of Assisi on that pedestal (a poplular religious subject for gardens, as opposed to the Our Lady on the Half Shell grottos like the on in Miko's example, which tend to be more cave-y then sylvan).
posted by KingEdRa at 10:10 PM on December 1, 2010
posted by KingEdRa at 10:10 PM on December 1, 2010
Yeah, if it's in the St. Louis area, I'd put money on it originally holding up a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary (or BVM as we like to call 'em). You can't swing a dead cat around here without hitting a BVM.
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 2:04 AM on December 2, 2010
posted by Green Eyed Monster at 2:04 AM on December 2, 2010
Do St. Louis-ians do the half-sunken bathtubs to shelter your Yard BVMs (like they do in Massachusetts)?
posted by wenestvedt at 9:21 AM on December 2, 2010
posted by wenestvedt at 9:21 AM on December 2, 2010
The rock appears to be vesicular basalt. Although I'm not familiar with Missouri geology, in my mind there aren't any basalt occurences anywhere near there. Maybe a previous owner was a big fan of Hawaii and brought back enough to make a shrine? /wild conjecture
posted by Big_B at 12:02 PM on December 2, 2010
posted by Big_B at 12:02 PM on December 2, 2010
You can buy basalt at garden centers, though, sometimes labelled as "lava rock."
posted by Miko at 12:52 PM on December 2, 2010
posted by Miko at 12:52 PM on December 2, 2010
True, but that is quite a bit of rock and it struck me as being out of place which I thought might help the mystery.
posted by Big_B at 12:54 PM on December 2, 2010
posted by Big_B at 12:54 PM on December 2, 2010
Yes - I wish I had been clearer about a few things in the original question that make the structure seem particularly unusual:
1. From the placement on the property, the apparent age of the structure, and my friend's knowledge of who owned the house in the past, it seems very likely that this structure is not associated with the existing house on the property or any preexisting modern suburban development. Instead, it seems that someone built this thing in the woods far away from any existing house, and the suburban subdivision came later. That said, I don't know when the whole suburban "religious grotto" thing really got going.
2. The rock does seem weird and does not look like any rocks that are otherwise around the property.
posted by Mid at 4:14 PM on December 2, 2010
1. From the placement on the property, the apparent age of the structure, and my friend's knowledge of who owned the house in the past, it seems very likely that this structure is not associated with the existing house on the property or any preexisting modern suburban development. Instead, it seems that someone built this thing in the woods far away from any existing house, and the suburban subdivision came later. That said, I don't know when the whole suburban "religious grotto" thing really got going.
2. The rock does seem weird and does not look like any rocks that are otherwise around the property.
posted by Mid at 4:14 PM on December 2, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jmnugent at 6:58 PM on December 1, 2010