Track 9 STONE 2, Presentation 2

Orson Fowler in the Shenandoah Valley: Gravel Wall Construction in Augusta County, Virginia

Sam Biggers

sambiggers@gmail.com

Orson Fowler remains a well-known name within the field of architectural history, thanks to his briefly-popular octagonal house designs. These eclectic designs fit neatly into the larger reform movement of the mid-nineteenth century, which manifested itself in architecture through a heightened focus on the role of buildings on improving health. Fowler’s own training as a phrenologist influenced his octagonal house designs, which he argued helped promote more positive airflow and create a healthier living environment than offered by traditional building forms. Fowler’s writings reached a broad audience and led to octagonal house construction throughout the United States. 

Fowler’s innovation also extended to construction methods and materials. In the first edition of his book The Octagon House: A Home For All, or A New, Cheap, Convenient, and Superior Mode of Building (1848), Fowler advocated for stacked board construction, a method that involved the stacking of dimensional lumber to build up walls. By his third edition in 1853, Fowler abandoned stacked board construction in favor of concrete. An 1850 trip to Wisconsin, where he saw “houses built wholly of lime, mixed with that coarse gravel and sand,” spurred his switch to concrete. Fowler termed this lime-based concrete “gravel wall” construction. 

Scholarly literature has focused primarily on Fowler’s motivations and intentions for octagon house design and the form’s proliferation. Specifically, there have been multiple nation-wide surveys completed of Fowler-inspired octagonal buildings. However, little scholarship has been devoted to the materials and construction methods he advocated in his writings, which has resulted in an assumption that there are very few “gravel wall” buildings extant in the United States. This is apparent in a 1930’s survey of the Zelotes Holmes House in Laurens, South Carolina, which was noted as “one of the few surviving examples of ‘Gravel Wall’ construction in the nation.” Contemporary scholarship has done little to dispel this perception. 

In fact, Fowler’s gravel wall construction method was enthusiastically adopted by a small group of builders in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley beginning in 1856. The popularity of the method resulted in the construction of at least sixty gravel wall buildings between 1859 and 1900 in Augusta County alone. These buildings varied widely in use and plan, and in some cases material composition. While the vast majority were built as houses, there are a handful of non-residential buildings such as schools, stores, and churches. Their common thread is a selective acceptance of Fowler’s writings. None followed Fowler’s prescribed octagonal shape, yet all embraced his gravel wall method. The citizens of Augusta County were more willing to accept experimental building materials than they were to diverge from well- established building forms. 

Gravel wall construction was a logical choice in nineteenth century Augusta County, due to a combination of forces active at the time. The county’s early settlement-era stone houses served as a reminder of the not-so-distant frontier past and its legacy of stone construction. Additionally, all ingredients for gravel wall construction were found in abundance: water, sand, stone, and lime. Augusta County is fortunate to have a wide network of waterways, which provided both water and sand necessary for gravel wall construction. The county’s location in the Shenandoah Valley meant that limestone was found in abundance, which provided both aggregate and binder in gravel wall mixes. By the mid- nineteenth century, lime production was well-established in the county, with numerous lime kilns depicted on period maps. While material abundance played a positive role, evidence suggests that the fire protection qualities of gravel wall construction also contributed to its regional popularity. In multiple cases, a gravel wall building replaced an earlier building destroyed by fire. This increased consciousness of fire protection and prevention in Augusta County also led to organized efforts such as the Eastern Augusta Fire Insurance Company. Organized in 1870, the company was the first fire insurance company based in the county. 

Gravel wall also provided work for stone masons, who by the mid-nineteenth century were largely confined to building foundations, as stone superstructure construction had been supplanted by frame and brick construction. Census records suggest that gravel wall work was often completed by stone masons, some of whom came from families with a tradition of stone masonry. The transition from traditional stone masonry to gravel wall was likely a smooth one. The materials were consistent, with stone and mortar (sand, lime, water) used in both applications. The main difference was the method, which was less precise with gravel wall construction compared to traditional stone masonry. In gravel wall, the stone masons combined a mixture of large fieldstones and a mortar slurry in forms to build walls, which were stuccoed after completion. This method did not include the puzzle-like stone cutting and intricate mortar pointing of traditional stone masonry. 

Augusta County’s gravel wall buildings were often mistakenly identified as stuccoed brick in past surveys, and as such have never been fully identified before this research project. These buildings’ attribution to the writings of Orson Fowler definitively links them to national mid-nineteenth century building trends, yet their selective acceptance of Fowler’s writings shows a regional interpretation. Gravel wall construction was a logical choice, due to material abundance, inherent fire protective qualities, and an opportunity for stone masons to practice a different method. Period accounts and contemporary fieldwork suggests that at least a dozen more gravel wall buildings exist elsewhere in the Shenandoah Valley, which presents an opportunity to expand this research from a local to a regional effort.  

Sam Biggers is Director of Preservation Services with Dominion Traditional Building Group, a restoration masonry contractor that serves Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. In his role, he is involved in building forensics, identification of compatible materials, and estimating.