This is a restored New England field stone wall that originally penned-in sheep in the area on the left. According to the literature, this also can be called a “stone fence” in Yankee parlance. That’s because the wall is freestanding and the land on each side is about the same level; the stones are there to divide – “fence-off” – property, not hold it up like a “stone retaining wall.”
(Remember the characterization in Robert Frost’s “Mending Wall” poem? While the two neighbors were mending the stone wall along their property line, one referred to the wall and said, “Good FENCES make good neighbors.” [Emphasis added.])
Actually, the wall shown here is a popular type apparently known as a “field stone double wall,” because it is made of two lines of stone that have rubble between them. In fact, some sources indicate that it probably would be more accurate to refer to this wall as a “normal’ or “regular” or “traditional” field stone double wall because its large stones were cleared from the property and are only “stacked.” That is, the stones are not very carefully “laid” or “fitted” or “reshaped” to make what often is called an “ornate” field stone double wall. (Images taken in Brooklin, Maine, on April 8, 2024.)