By Jim Cavan

Granite Staters have always been known for their self-sufficiency. In fact, the state’s nickname was intended to be as much a reflection of its people as of the seemingly endless bounty of rock beneath them.

During the 19th century, New Hampshire boasted one of the country’s largest – if not the largest – granite industries in the country. Even today, Concord still boasts one of the nation’s biggest quarries, and Milford, still known colloquially as “Granite Town”, hosts one now-defunct quarry made famous for its part in helping erect the U.S. Treasury Building, whose New Hampshire-borne pillars can still be seen on the back of the $10 bill.

But while the granite mining industry has since largely fallen by the wayside, one New Hampshire business owner is determined to make sure that both narratives – that of a people’s resourcefulness, as well as that of their state’s namesake – continue to thrive.

Adam Bennett is the owner of Windham-based Colonial Stoneworks. An area native who worked in the automotive and landscaping sectors for over a decade before turning full time to stonework, in 2008 Bennett launched the home-based Colonial, which provides services ranging from simple walkways and stairways to elegant fireplaces and property-spanning walls.

On the surface, the services and skills Bennett offers might not seem that different from others in his field. But it’s how the 26-year old does it that sets him apart from the pack.

Colonial places an uncommonly heavy emphasis on reclaimed and recycled materials, and particularly those that are local. Indeed, the Granite State may have long since moved away from its nicknamesake’s industry. But for Bennett, there’s still plenty of unused and discarded stone lying around – all waiting for a new lease on a useful life on any number of makeover-ready properties.

In fact, Bennett will often source the stone for his clients’ projects right from their back yard – literally.

“I’ve had customers who do their own yard work and just collected a pile of stones over time, and a lot of times that stuff is usable,” he says. “I did a wall a couple years ago on a Windham residence that had just bought a lot behind them that led up to the water, and there was this huge piece of exposed ledge. So we picked it apart and collected everything that had broken off and used a lot of that for the project.”

For Bennett, the calculus is simple: Why pay for expensive pallets of stone from quarries as far afield as Pennsylvania – only to pay more for the shipping and unloading – when there’s plenty of high quality, native materials all around you? According to Bennett, not only is scavenging for local materials less expensive in general; it’s also far less energy intensive, something that goes part and parcel with his burgeoning “green” approach to stonework.

“I did a job last fall in Concord that required literally tons of stone,” recalls Bennett. “So instead of 40 pallets of stone, or basically 40 cubic yards, all we had were two 20-yard dumpsters filled with stones we’d reclaimed. At that point you just dump them in a pile and go to work.”

Such efforts, while requiring more heavy lifting – literally and figuratively – are not only good for cutting costs, but cutting Colonial’s environmental footprint as well. Extracting stone and rock is, by its nature, enormously energy intensive, something Bennett feels strongly can, and in many ways should, be avoided.

And that’s just the beginning of Colonial’s green initiatives. Bennett puts biodiesel, made by a neighbor using waste vegetable oil, in all his diesel machinery and trucks, making every effort to use all other gasoline-powered machinery as seldom as possible. Bennett even installed his own on-site 500-gallon storage tank to store the biodiesel, meaning fewer trips to the pump to fill up.

Additionally, Bennett performs weekly service and maintenance on all equipment and trucks to keep things operating at maximum efficiency, as well as boasting a strict "no-idling" campaign. And for his customers, Bennett recommends paperless billing and invoicing, drastically cutting down on unnecessary waste of paper.

To help promote these and future initiatives, in 2009 Bennett joined forces with the Portsmouth-based Green Alliance, a self-described “green business union” that helps raise the profile of sustainability-minded businesses throughout the region.

At only 26, Bennett is in many ways the new kid on an industry block known as much for its grueling regimen as it is for its competitiveness. “It’s definitely a competitive field, but in reality the guys who do dry stone work are a dying breed,” says Bennett, referring to stone-based projects that rely more on gravity and friction to hold a piece together than cement or mortar. “But from my perspective the dry stone is far superior because it allows for flexibility and breathability, where a wall with a lot of mortar will eventually crack and fall apart.”

Because of the highly specialized nature of the dry stone niche, the one-man show behind Colonial has had to learn a lot on the fly, to assure that whatever vision the customer has for their yard, patio or walkway can truly be brought to life.

“It’s a strange position to be in when someone asks you to do something you’re not necessarily an expert at yet,” says Bennett. “Do you decline, knowing your own limitations? Or do you go with it and know you’ll have to put in that much time and research and learn in order to do it right?”

Not surprisingly, Bennett is more than inclined towards the latter. Though he’s only officially been in the stonework field for a few years, Adam Bennett is determined – much like the centuries-old stone walls strewn about the New Hampshire countryside in which he regularly works – to stick around a while.

“It’s a very New England craft, and being a native New Englander that part of it is easy to appreciate,” says Bennett. “But there aren’t really a lot of guys out there doing it, in part because it’s not something that can just be done in a day.”
 

“It’s more of an art form than just a trade or skill, and for me it’s always been more about the quality than the quantity.”