Flat Stones - The Brandegee Blog

Ramblings on Crafting Useable Art (and other things that I find interesting)

Flat Stones
Posted on June 5, 2013

Sometimes, natural disasters produce happy consequences. That happened for us when the area where our country log cabin sits was hit by a so-called hundred year flood. The stream that normally flowed behind the cabin in the creek bed about six feet lower surged upward to just within 6 inches of our first floor before subsiding over the following three days. The blacktop road a quarter mile down the stream along our dirt road driveway didn’t fare so well.  In fact, the flood water obliterated all traces of the road; for several hundred yards it was nothing but creek bed.  We later found that downstream from there our caretaker (whom we had inherited from the cabin seller) had had a rare moment of glory when the high wheel base of his pickup allowed him to drive off the road where the creek had spread wide over a meadow, sweeping a carful of terrified women with it.  They climbed into the pickup and Fred whisked them to safety.  More later about Fred.  That moment of glory for Fred was probably unique.

Upstream the flood also spilled wide across meadows, stranding cows to stand and munch on the rise at the edge.  But in the creek bed, the flood waters had heaved into sight a dozen or so flat shale slabs and strewn them about like cards on a tabletop.

We pounced.  We had purchased a second early log cabin a few miles from our place and were re-erecting and connecting it to the first.  The flat stones found new homes, one about 10' wide and 5" thick as a hearth for the fireplace in the new old house.  We lucked out in timing: the first logs had been laid in place but the foundation required for the massive hearthstone could still be built.  A week later and the equipment couldn’t have placed it within the walls.  The other slabs went outside as a beautiful patio between house and stream. 

A couple of years later another of those rocks also combined with log cabin logs in my coffee table design called Mesa.

Hooray for our 100 year flood!

The flat red shale top nests in cutouts in antique log cabin log sections.

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