Good Fences Make Good Neighbors at Highland Village Museum

Highland Village Museum is constructing a vintage-style stone wall to build on the Scottish atmosphere of the living history museum.

The Iona, Victoria Co., museum is adding an authentic stone wall to its Hebridean-style black house.

Stonemason John Urich is leading construction of the wall to the museum's Hebridean-style black house with builders Sandy MacNeil and Dan MacKenzie. Originally hailing from Austria, Mr. Urich has been doing masonry work since 1954, restoring various historic sites throughout Canada, including the Fortress of Louisbourg and Ben Breagh.

Made of dry fieldstone and boulders, the stone wall is about one metre high, and more than a metre wide. Like the black house, it is hand-built in the traditional fashion of dry stonework. The fence connects to the house, allowing animals access to the byre, a part of the home that was used to house animals during the winter.

Highland Village Museum, located on Route 223 in Iona, is open seven days a week from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Visit the website at www.visithighlandvillage.com , or call 902-725-2272 for information on daily animation and special programs.