BrainStone

07/20/2023

Summer 2023 stone season is cruising! It's great meeting neighbors and helping them bring their visions to life.

03/10/2021

Signs of spring: Cascadilla Creek is flowing, Blue Herons are hunting, AND BrainStone is (Covid-safely) scheduling project consultations for spring & summer of 2021!

Now is the time to get in touch if you are thinking of improving your outdoor space with stone or need stone restoration work.

Stonemason & Artist: Joel Brain
Call: 607-227-3151
Email: [email protected]

What signs of spring have you noticed?

08/27/2020

We loved helping this Fall Creek family turn their backyard into a beautiful functional outdoor living space!

10/17/2018

Do you have a stone project you'd like to complete, but are worried that the impending cold weather will get in the way? We book for early spring 2019 in the fall. Yes, right now! Give us a call to discuss your spring projects. We all need something to dream about during the long winter months. :-)

Semi-circle, dry-stack sitting wall - in process

07/25/2018

Joel wanted this piece to be extra special and installed a custom irregular bluestone bulb-shaped center.

05/24/2018

We promised good news and here it is! We are over the moon happy to be recognized by Historic Ithaca for Joel's restoration work at Fuertes Bird Sanctuary & Overlook in Stewart Park.

When we started BrainStone almost a decade ago we prioritized treating restorations with integrity, caution, and attention to detail. We do it when no one is watching, but it's nice to be recognized, too! :-)

The 2018 Preservation Awards The Chemung Canal Trust Company hosted the 2018 Historic Ithaca Preservation Awards on Tuesday, May 15, 2018. The “Station” building was a fitting site for the awards. Joseph O. Ciaschi, the namesake for the annual Preservation Excellence Award, rehabbed the building...

05/17/2018

Hi friends. Can you believe it's finally Spring? We're super excited to kick off our 2018 season. In fact, we have some really exciting news to share with you later this week. Stay tuned!

08/03/2017

Thank you, Facebook for reminding us of this backyard patio Joel built four years for an awesome family in Fall Creek. I've always loved this one! -HJB

07/30/2017

She gets the job done.

05/26/2017

New pics from the Fuertes Overlook restoration. Have you walked by and checked it out? Our family didn't know about this beautiful space in Stewart Park and now it's one of our favorite places to visit. - Hillary

05/16/2017

Please join us!

The FSP Green Team is meeting this afternoon from 4-7pm to kick off park volunteering. Join us to keep Stewart Park beautiful and to find out how you can get involved!

05/16/2017

Look at this amazing photo of the Finger Lakes from NASA!

FINGER LAKES—CENTRAL NEW YORK STATE

The Finger Lakes in Central New York State are 11 parallel lakes with long, narrow shapes. They are aligned north to south, and resemble fingers on a hand. The Iroquois believed that the lakes were evidence of marks from the Great Spirit’s hand. The lakes formed in the past two million years after carving by glaciers eroded pre-existing stream valleys in the region. The actual depth of the lakes is much deeper than they appear, as the lakes have filled partially with sediments after the carving of the glaciers. The deepest two lakes, Seneca and Cayuga, are among some of the deepest in North America and are actually deeper than sea level. For example, Seneca Lake’s surface is measured to be 135 meters above sea level, but its depth reaches 200 meters, making the lake deeper than sea level. The formation of this area has a very complex history.

Initially, the land that now features the lakes held rivers that flowed from south to north. When an Ice Age began approximately two million years ago, glaciers moved from northern latitudes to cover the area. The glaciers, which were more than two miles thick, advanced and retreated during this time period, carving out the formations of the lakes into the rocks underlying the pre-existing rivers. The region was completely covered in ice about 21,000 years ago, when the ice was at its height. The climate warmed starting at 19,000 years ago, and the last glaciers retreated completely approximately 11,000 years ago, leaving behind their mark on the land in the form of the lakes. When the ice melted, sediment clogged the river valleys, and the water filled the gorges scraped by the glaciers, creating the present-day lakes and waterfalls we see in the region today.

If you are a fossil lover like me, visit Ithaca, which is a city on the southern end of Cayuga Lake. There are many types of fossils visible in the area that were deposited during the Ordovician to Late Devonian periods when the area was buried by a warm, shallow sea; this sea was present approximately 450 to 360 million years ago. You will find abundant brachiopods, clams, trilobites, corals, cephalopods, and crinoids in the rocks in the region. Ithaca was where I found my very first trilobite!

-Jeanne K.

Photo courtesy of NASA.

References:
http://www.priweb.org/ed/finger_lakes/nystate_geo3.html

http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/water_pdf/chapter2.pdf

http://www.priweb.org/ed/finger_lakes/nystate_geo1.html

http://nationalatlas.gov/articles/geology/features/fingerlakes.html

http://www.priweb.org/ed/finger_lakes/nystate_geo4.html

http://priweb.org/ed/finger_lakes/nystate_geo6.html

05/11/2017

We love swimming and hiking at Buttermilk! It's one of our favorite places to take visiting friends and family in the summer. Bonus: Ithaca Beer Co. is so close by it only makes sense to stop for a burger and beer on the way home. :-)

This beautiful body of water is the perfect place to cool off this summer!

05/06/2017

Please help support the restoration of Fuertes Overlook at Stewart Park!

Fuertes Overlook, constructed in 1934, is well on its way to revitalization. On Tuesday, you can support this effort by attending a benefit that will, in part, fund bird-friendly plantings around this local landmark. Please join us at Wild in Stewart Park: Sights and Sounds from the Park We Love to help realize this revitalized vision of our historic Overlook!

04/23/2017

Fuertes Overlook is coming together! We successfully re-laid the stone walk and I'm very happy with how it turned out.

This morning, Fuertes Overlook's historic stone walk was reset! You can help wrap up the Overlook's revitalization process TOMORROW by joining FSP from 10am-1pm at Stewart Park for the 2017 Waterfront Cleanup & Spring Cleaning. We hope to see you there!

04/13/2017

The Cascadilla Gorge Trail is open and raging for Spring!

04/11/2017

We're open for spring! Buds are on the trees and the flowers are beginning to bloom. What's your favorite thing about spring in the Finger Lakes?

04/11/2017

The beautiful spring weather we've been having gave us an opportunity to move forward with a historic restoration project we're working on at Stewart Park. It's always an honor to restore existing stone work, especially when it serves our beautiful community!