[MassHistPres] Cobblestone Driveway Aprons

[Marcia Starkey]

I recall that private drives entering onto a state road are required to have 
some means to prevent the discharge of stormwater, silt etc. onto the 
highway. There are also at least some local requirements to keep excessive 
mud and soil
from tracking onto roads. Marcia Starkey, Greenfield
---- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cindy" <cindy at pastdesigns.com>
To: <bgreg at comcast.net>; <masshistpres at cs.umb.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 8:09 AM
Subject: Re: [MassHistPres] Cobblestone Driveway Aprons


> 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 
> riveway  -
> 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
>> ******************************
>> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact
>> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE
>> WHOLE LIST.
>> MassHistPres mailing list
>> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
>> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
>> ********************************
>
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact 
> Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE 
> WHOLE LIST.
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
> ********************************
>