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The Chandler Stone
Wall
The following is a report from the
Tennessee Department of Transportation, "Architectural Assessment for
Proposed Improvements to Route 4450", August 1997, conducted by Ruth
D. Nichols and Robbie D. Jones, Historic Preservation Specialists with
cooperation from Mr. Larry Kent, property owner.
Located along the south side of the Old
Lebanon Dirt Road near the Chandler-Radford Road, is a farm site that
holds a stone wall and dam and a natural bridge formation. Completed
circa 1900 by John D. Chandler (1868-1958), this unique stone
dam/drainage/wall structure was designed to dam a local creek and a
series of under ground springs to promote land reclamation. Apparently
Chandler, a local farmer, stone mason, and blacksmith, spent
approximately four years constructing the system utilizing "dry laid"
masonry to create a reservoir, dam, retaining wall, and underground
"drain tiles" that served as a land reclamation project. The stone
wall, which extends approximately 266 feet along the south side of the
Old Lebanon Dirt Road, is approximately five feet high and retains
adjacent farmland south of the structure. At the west end of the wall
is an attached stone dam that stretches across a shallow creek. A
small reservoir, north of the dam, drains into the creek which runs
under the Old Lebanon Dirt Road in a north/south pattern
John D. Chandler, born in 1868,
inherited approximately 90 acres along the Old Lebanon Dirt Road in
1898. His dwelling, located northwest of the existing dam and bridge
is no longer standing, as it burned in the mid-to-late 1970's and was
never reconstructed. Construction of the stone wall, dam, and drainage
system apparently began prior to Chandler's legal ownership of the
property as family members state that the wall was completed around
1900, only two years after the transfer of the property to Chandler.
Construction of this system was completed by Chandler himself, who cut
the stone and hauled it to the road using horses hitched to a
makeshift sled. Supports for the dam include steel beams fashioned by
Chandler in his blacksmith shop. Current owner, Larry Kent, states his
father, Chandler's great nephew-in-law, purchased the property in 1953
because Chandler could no longer care for the farm. At the time, the
parcel held approximately 57 acres. Chandler passed away in December
1958, twenty days prior to his 90th birthday. Larry Kent gained the
property in 1991 and continues to use it for agricultural purposes.
Although Tennessee has not conducted a
state wide inventory of its stone fence resources, an extensive study
of Kentucky's rock walls and fences dates dry laid construction in
that region to as early as 1777. The term "dry laid" illustrates the
lack of mortar in this type of fencing technique. Dry laid fencing,
identified as the most common type of stone wall/fence construction,
incorporates a method in which builders either dug a narrow trench or
laid foundation stones directly on bedrock and stacked stones,
creating double coursed walls with battered sides that sloped inward
toward the top. Chandler's initial attempts at construction of the
retaining wall incorporated a method of laying stones directly upon
the ground. This failed to support the wall and Chandler constructed
the structure using a trench to support the stone foundation members.
The construction of stone fences and
dams for use in water control necessitated that builders incorporate a
plan which allowed water to flow under the fence without putting
pressure on it. Common construction methods incorporated a long lintel
across the creek supported by normally coursed stone on either side
and above the lintel. In Chandler's dam, several hand made steel
"angle iron" beams serve lintels supporting the dam which measures
approximately eleven feet in height and two feet in width. A cedar
gate at the south end of the dam controlled the flow of water into the
reservoir, which is a common feature seen in Kentucky's early stone
dams.
It is unlikely that Chandler's efforts
were influenced by government publications of the period distributed
by the Agricultural Extensions Service. The date of Chandler's
construction, believed to have been completed circa 1900, predates the
guidelines. Additionally, extension service publications as well as
agricultural journals of the period discouraged the construction of
traditional stone dams and fences emphasizing that such practices were
expensive and inefficient. Material such as wood, concrete, and barbed
wire were encouraged for use as inexpensive alternatives.
Prior to the 1920's, the government
played no active role in the promotion of soil conservation. Although
government funded research on soil improvement began during the
1800's. It was up to the individual farmer to upgrade and maintain his
farmland. During the 1920's, agricultural journals and the Department
of Agriculture's Extension Service began national campaigns stressing
the importance of individual soil control and land reclamation. These
efforts finally led to congressional involvement that in 1929 funded a
national study of soil erosion. Chandler, obviously acting alone in
his decision to construct a drainage/land control system, illustrates
this typical pattern in which individual farmers created their own
systems of erosion control based on what each farmer knew or learned
through traditional agricultural practices. As mentioned previously,
Chandler's stone wall, dam, and irrigation system was created as an
extensive soil reclamation project. At the south side of the stone
wall, one can see that the fields behind this wall have been built up
by a depth of at least four feet. Chandler flooded his farmland and
recaptured lost soil through use of an extensive drainage system. As a
traditional farmer, Chandler continued to raise corn the entire time
he owned his property, again illustrating probable lack of influence
from modern agricultural literature that promoted the production of
experimental crops such as soybeans. Still functional today,
Chandler's system includes numerous ditches and hand made underground
stone drain tiles that channel underground springs and carry water
into the reservoir. Chandler's creation originally included a stone
extension fence that admitted livestock into the reservoir area where
they could drink. This portion of the original stone fence is no
longer intact. Farmland south of the exterior stone wall that fronts
Old Lebanon Dirt Road retains strong evidence of its historic use with
remains of an access road to the southern pastures, extant hand dug
channels, and open fields that are still utilized for agricultural
purposes.
Editor's Note: John D. Chandler was the
son of Shelton and Thursey Melvin Chandler. He married 29 April 1891
in Wilson County, Sarah W. Jackson, daughter of William F. and
Elizabeth Wilson Jackson. John D. is buried in the Cowgill Cemetery on
Old Lebanon Dirt Road (Davidson County). |
