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Voyageurs National Park Sponsors Stone Wall Repair Workshop at Ellsworth Rock Gardens

Voyageurs National Park has received funding to conduct a workshop the week of July 23, 2007 to repair damaged stone walls at the historic Ellsworth Rock Gardens on Kabetogama Lake. Aspiring stone masons will learn repair techniques from master stonemason Neil Rippingale of the Dry Stone Conservancy of Kentucky. The mission of the Dry Stone Conservancy is to revive and promote the ancient craft of dry stone masonry and to preserve existing dry stone structures. Mr. Rippingale has been training program manager of the Dry Stone Conservancy since 2001 and was previously owner and managing director of N.R. Stonecraft in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has worked all over the world and taught dry stone walling to over 3000 trainees over the past 17 years.

Voyageurs National Park received funding from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training, the Friends of Voyageurs National Park, and the Voyageurs National Park Association to sponsor the training. The purpose of the workshop is to provide hands-on training for park staff and Ellsworth volunteers to create a cadre of trained personnel to continue work at the gardens. The park sponsored a workshop in 2006 and trainees repaired approximately 600 linear feet of damaged stone wall at the gardens.

Jack Ellsworth, a carpenter/building contractor from Chicago, constructed the Ellsworth Rock Gardens on the north shore of Kabetogama Lake between 1944 and 1965. The gardens are significant as an extraordinary and unique American art environment and an outstanding example of mid-twentieth century landscape architecture. The gardens are a major visitor destination in Voyageurs National Park, attracting approximately 100 people a day from mid-May to mid-September.