Northshore Home magazine highlights the best in architectural design, new construction and renovations, interiors, and landscape design.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/579535
104 1798 UNTIL THE 1920S, CAPE ANN'S GREAT GRANITE industry boomed, as early inhabitants of the area cut massive columns of stone from the peninsula's 450-mil- lion-year-old quarries to be shipped up and down the eastern seaboard and beyond. Today, most of those quarries have filled with rain and spring water to form deep ponds and reservoirs. Many are now hidden in woodlands, reclaimed by nature—something Rockport resident Dave Araneo appreciates. "There's a real quarry atmosphere here," says Dave, who, together with his son, Matt Araneo, owns Araneo Landworks. "There's the coastline that the tourists know about, but then there's the interior—the whole place was stripped and was a heavy-duty working area." (A historic photograph from 1888 shows a lone elm tree onsite.) Today, the Araneo property supports a mature forest. Walking through the landscape, Dave points with contagious enthusiasm to all the pieces of cut stone scat- tered about. "The artifacts we find here are amazing." He is a man who clearly adores the beauty of stone in its natural environment. Even after 21 years in his home and garden, he still seems in awe of what was "just left behind everywhere." But let's back up…Dave's property requires some explanation. Decades ago, Louis Polack, a highly eccentric antiques dealer, built a home into the ruins of an 1830 barn for oxen, which were once used to pull granite from the quarry. Steam power rendered them unnecessary, and ul- timately it became a dairy farm. "It's a ruins," says Dave. "And because it's a ruins you can do anything." Dave and his wife, Nan, bought the house in 1992, and for the past two-plus decades, the family has woven itself into the topography that surrounds it. The garden, in all its meandering glory, has been a true labor of love. "When we bought the house, the only thing here was the shed," notes Nan. Today, there's hardly a place the eye Every area of the garden incorporates stonework. Opposite, top, The large moon gate is the focal point. F R O M