What the Madison Boulder says about New Hampshire stone
Madison is home to the Madison Boulder, the largest known glacial erratic in New England and a National Natural Landmark since 1970. The ice sheet carried it here and left it.
The same glaciers spread smaller stone over every field in the state, which is why old New Hampshire farms are crossed with stone walls and why fieldstone is the local look. Natural fieldstone veneer brings that stone onto the face of a house.
Silver Lake, Eidelweiss and East Madison
Madison is a few different places in one town. Silver Lake is both a lake and a village, with Route 41 running along the west shore and meeting Route 113 near the north end. Eidelweiss is a village district of its own. Purity Spring Resort and the King Pine ski area sit on the east side of town.
So the houses vary: lake cottages, ski houses, and year round homes along Route 113 and the side roads. The stone work changes with them.
Where stone goes on a Madison house
Most Madison jobs are thin natural stone veneer. The stone is real, cut thin on the back so it can go on an existing wall without a new footing. Full thickness stone is still an option where there is a ledge or footing to carry it.
- The lake side foundation of a Silver Lake cottage
- Deck columns on a house built into a slope
- A fireplace surround or hearth wall
- The base of a front entry or porch
Winters up here
Madison sits where the Lakes Region turns into the Mount Washington Valley, and its winters lean toward the mountain side. Snow slides off steep roofs and piles at the base of the house, and plows push banks against foundations by the driveway.
Stone handles cold well when it is installed right. What hurts it is water that gets in and cannot get out. So it pays to plan the driveway side: leave the plow somewhere to push snow other than against the stone, and keep the bottom of the veneer above where the bank usually sits.
More than one trade in one call
If the job is bigger than stone veneer, it can take in fieldstone walls, steps, walkways, patios, and painting inside or out. That helps on a camp that needs stone posts, a set of steps to the lake and fresh paint before summer.
