Every day, stone foundations like those scattered throughout much of New England—foundations built with outdated materials and designed to meet the requirements of another era—are threatened by the demands of modern times. Consider the following scenarios: • Taking care not to nick the old stone foundation, the backhoe operator sets his outrigger pads next to the building, hikes its seven tons up into the air, and begins to cut a ditch for a new sewer line. • A 15-ton garbage truck squeezes into a tiny parking lot created when an old house was converted into apartments. The road ripples as the truck creeps past the window wells in the stone foundation. • Half a mile away from
