[MassHistPres] Cobblestone Driveway Aprons

[Cindy]

Brian:
I don't know the specific origin of the "apron" for the driveway, but I do 
know something about period paving, so here goes:

1. Most early deeds in New England were written with the homeowner owning 
the street or road in front of their dwelling and offering people the "right 
to pass and repass". In Portsmouth, in the 18th and early 19th century, some 
well to do property owners, in an effort to improve their property frontage 
better than others, and demostrate their social and economic status in the 
community (or out of public good) laid Durham pavers on the sidewalks and 
street crossings near their property.  Durham pavers were large irregularly 
cut pieces of granite "flagging" that allowed pedestrians a dry passage 
across dirt streets and muddy lanes.  (In addition to their sidewalk 
improvements they often planted street trees along their property boundaries 
as well to offer shade to passersby and give them a chance to pause and 
admire their properties).  As the town took over maintenance of the streets 
(because, as you can imagine, not all property owners took care of their 
street areas to the same standard of maintenance) then they used Durham 
pavers along heavily traveled pedestrian ways and crosswalks as well.  You 
can still see the remains of some of these paving efforts in Portsmouth NH, 
Newport RI, Newburyport MA, New Bedford MA, Salem MA and other towns.

2. In the 19th century, as the New England granite industry grew, they 
provided cut granite blocks or "cobblestones" for street paving.  This 
material provided a wonderfully durable paved surface for streets and was a 
huge improvement from the dust, dirt and mud of the gravel roads.  In other 
areas of the country, where clay soils instead of granite ledges were more 
dominant, brick was used as paving material.

3. I think that the original "cobbles" were the round stones cast up on New 
England beaches by the tides - material within easy reach for no cost but 
the gathering that was used for drip edges, gutters, and some paved yards 
and driveways.  A good example of this type of surface can be found at the 
Cushing house in Newburyport MA.  Some of this material was also used for 
ballast for ships returning home from New England and could be sold to 
interested customers at the end of the journey.  These stones have also been 
found as the fill and base material in old cribbed wharves and docks.

4. We have lots of good evidence for road and sidewalk construction in the 
19th and early 20th century that used beach cobbles (now they are called 
riverstone) along the sides of a gravel, cinder (or other suface) sidewalk, 
driveway or road.  The road or sidewalk was crowned and allowed water to 
moved into the gutters.  The gutters consisted of a small "swale" along each 
side of the road or sidewalk and the cobbles slowed the water run-off and 
prevented erosion along the sides of the road. The water seeped slowly down 
into the gutters, or in steeper areas was directed to a wider collection 
area. These type of cobbles were also used in drip edges around house 
foundations - designed in the same fashion as the sidewalk and road gutters.

5. Historically, I think that the cobbled apron may have been that part of 
the driveway that crossed a paved public sidewalk - the surface was 
different as you moved from private driveway to public sidewalk, gutter or 
road edge.

6. Today I have used cobble aprons and soldier courses on gravel or stone 
dust driveways because they can catch the pieces of small stone on the tires 
before the car moves out onto an asphalt road and not leave a "trail" of 
stone onto the black asphalt.  I have also used them as a "threshold" to 
separate different types of paved surfaces within a residential driveway and 
parking system.

7. Today I think that the cobbled aprons (using what we used to call Belgian 
Block granite pavers) are an effort to dress up a plain asphalt driveway  - 
a nod to the past and an embellishment that might set your property apart 
from your neighbors - in a way, not that much different than the 18th 
century origins of the treatment.

As far as I know no one has done a complete composite study of paving 
systems, but there is good site-specific documentation for some areas in 
archaeology reports, museums studies, and town minutes (particularly as 
towns were acquiring public ownership of the roads) or town court records as 
public officials tried to force individual property owners to maintain their 
road rights of way.  We did a study for the Portsmouth NH streets, fences, 
etc. years ago when I was at Strawbery Banke, and I can give you specific 
studies for individual New England properties if you need more information. 
You can probably find more information for some towns in Town Improvement 
Society reports as they came to be concerned with public improvements in the 
mid to late 19th century.

Hope this is helpful.

Cindy Brockway


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <bgreg at comcast.net>
To: <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, October 04, 2006 7:01 PM
Subject: [MassHistPres] Cobblestone Driveway Aprons


> We are seeing more and more cobblestone driveway aprons being installed at 
> the foot of either new or newly re-paved driveways here on the North 
> Shore.  We're not sure if this is simply a popular embellishment, an 
> attempt to reproduce early carriage-ways, or a contractor-recommended 
> useful fixture.  Their very cobblestone nature lends them to be considered 
> early American and therefore particularly popular for driveways of 
> colonial (original or reproduction) homes.
>
> Does anyone know the background of cobblestone aprons and their historical 
> significance?
>
> Brian Gregory
> Boxford Historic Districts Commission
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