Set in Stone

 

Set in Stone

Noel Laflin

11-4-23

 

I love walking through Irvine Park with friends and taking them off the beaten path to sights that I find kind of cool, like with David and Melanie here a couple of weeks ago.

 

To the unsuspecting eye (like mine, until one day something different caught my attention), they are simply seated on an old stone retaining wall put in place by WPA masons in 1938. How do we know the year? Well, a few feet from my friends, in the top of the wall, are names of some of the guys who apparently fashioned this old boundary marker (Bob, Mack, and George), and one fellow by the name of Leo White who was kind enough to engrave the year ('38) into drying cement, right below where he printed his John Henry (or LEO in his case). Seeing names left to dry in the mortar like this isn't usual throughout the miles of low retaining walls built within the park (although there's another fine dark rock containing great marine fossils alongside a different road not too far from here and at the end of that wall, standing in three inch high letters is the name Noah), but I figure these workman thought this particular location was far enough off the beaten path that no supervisor would take notice. Or, maybe it was their last day on the job - or, maybe Leo White was the supervisor and maybe it was his last day with the WPA - maybe Noah's too. Ah, there's countless speculation, so who knows.

 

But, I digress, as usual.

 

So, upon closer inspection of that lighter colored rock situated between Melanie and David is history caught in stone itself, once you get down low and look more closely. And then, Presto! Look at all those fossils!

I realize that this is just part of my nerdy nature, but I find that things like this are right up there (or down there, in this case) with colorful peacocks perched in tall trees and graceful hawks soaring high above the foothills.

 

That's my philosophical take on it, literally set in stone, in this instance, anyway.

 

So, thanks Leo, Bob, Mack, and George, or whoever was thoughtful enough to leave us this fantastic stone cemented in plain sight for all inquisitive enough to find. There's none other quite like it anywhere else in the park - none that I have found so far, but, hey, you never know what future walks through thick forgotten brush might uncover.

 

Nerdy minds just want to know, and as they say (or me, anyway), no stone shall go unturned.