This striking outcropping retaining wall project just West of Appleton in Greenville, WI, required us to marry native outcropping stone quarried on site from an adjacent, defunct quarry with split-faced wallstone and steps quarried from an active, large-scale, professional quarry in Fond du Lac. While you might think stone is stone, the challenge was presented when trying to use the native outcroppings to build a uniform, segmental structure from stone that was irregular in size, shape and contour, and have it dovetail with stone quarried from a an operation with a location in Eden, WI where the tolerances are much tighter.
The result is what you see above and below, colorful local limestone boulders making the retaining wall, many in excess of 2,000 pounds, height varying between 6″ and 15″, with the more refined finish of lighter colored limestone used as the step treads and seat wall.
In the above picture you can notice a few details of the project, like the large capstone boulder appearing inlaid within the paver patio; this is the future site of a small fireplace to warm the chilly Wisconsin evenings. If you look closely, you’ll also see receptacles built into the seat wall, as well as switched low voltage lights, mortared beneath the capstones of the seat wall to provide navigation and ambiance lighting to the area. Below, you can see the rough-in of the outermost receptacle in progress.