These walls were constructed between the early 1920s and the mid 1960s, many of them make-work projects, a legacy of the
Dirty Thirties. They show varying methods and styles of construction which changed with the times. Some were dry laid, without mortar, while most were set in mortar. The walls employing larger rocks indicate their construction in later periods, when more and larger equipment became available to the stone masons.
The city has recently placed ten bronze plaques at strategic points throughout the city which indicate the date of construction of particular walls and the names of the stone masons who laid them. This is a wonderful way to commemorate these stone masons from yesteryear and the legacy they have left behind for future generations.
Gyro Park was created in 1933 on land donated to the city by Nelson resident Hugh W. Robinson. It has been continuously updated and added to, most notably with rock work here and there throughput the park, such as bleachers, now used as a stairway to the beach, rock walls along a walking path leading north along the river from the park and even stone pillars on the concession stand.
The plaque for the rock work in the park, which occurred between 1933 and 1963, is at the beginning of the aforementioned trail, just above and north of the stairs to the beach. The known stonemasons involved through the years are Stefano Como, Gugliemo Di Domenico, Frank Balkovec, Girolamo Meiorin and Michele Guercio. Most, if not all, of these men had a hand in other stonework around the city.
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