Mixed Stone Sitting Wall, North Carolina 2012
Mixed Stone Sitting Wall, Maryland 2009
Sandstone Sitting Wall, Pennsylvania 2004
Sandstone and Granite Sitting Wall with Sandstone Patio, North Carolina 2018
Sandstone Sitting Wall with Steps, North Carolina 2008
Sandstone Sitting Walls with Steps, North Carolina 2015
Sandstone and Granite Sitting Wall, North Carolina 2017
Sandstone Sitting Wall, New Mexico, 2020
Sandstone Sitting Wall, North Carolina, 2010
Sandstone and Limestone Outdoor Classroom in New Mexico, 2022
Sandstone Sitting Wall and Patio, New Mexico 2023
Stone Sitting Wall and Garden Bed, Kentucky 2003
Stone sitting walls average about 18 inches in elevation off the ground, and many of them double as stone retaining walls. Only one of the ones pictured here is freestanding – no soil behind it.
Some of these are curved, and some are straight. The curved sitting walls I build draw inspiration from the in-ground kivas built by Native Americans in the southwestern US. Most of the ones I build have alignment with cardinal directions, and several of them have more complex markings such as solstice, equinox, and lunar standstills.
Single slabs work best as the top surface of a sitting wall. They last longer than smaller stones placed or mortared together.