Centuries-Old Street Construction

Cobblestones are a natural, readily available material that were used to connect one settlement to another.  Cobblestones, like the bread crumbs of Hansel & Gretel, showed the path from place to place allowing groups of people to stay connected materially and culturally.  It is this connection and defining of place that makes cobblestones so fascinating.

Shown here are red rock cobblestones of ancient origin.  Cobblestones geologically are rocks smoothed and rounded by water running over them in rivers and streambeds.  The word cobblestone was first coined in the 15th century coming from the Middle English word, cob (rounded lump).

This is a look at where cobblestones are today, many actively used from the time they were originally laid centuries, even millenia, ago.  In current time they are found in abandoned places and are being used again to reclaim culture and history.  Cobblestones evolved from just being the stones formed in rounded shapes by nature to dressed stones technically named setts. There are even patents filed in the U.S. Patent Office during the 18th century regarding the shape and placement of cobblestones for street building.