Discovered concrete over bluestone in garden

We live in a 1850s brownstone in Fort Greene and recently cleaned up the garden. I was very surprised to find two 3 foot wide channels of concrete about 10 inches under the soil on both sides of the garden (from the house to the back). There is nothing in the middle of the garden. When I started to dig up the concrete I found it had been poured on top of beautiful thick bluestone / slate! Thankfully the concrete was easy to break and peel off from the slate so we could recycle the stone to create the patio. Does anyone have any idea what use the concrete served? And what about the slate? Was that the original cover for the garden? Why pour concrete on top? Why only on the sides of the garden?

fgp

in Garden 12 years and 2 months ago

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fgp | 12 years and 2 months ago

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Interesting. There is a 6 foot deep bluestone patio right in front of the house that would form the base of the U. I didn’t think it was that old as it looks relatively new, but it does seem to be at the same level as the bluestone in the garden so it could make sense. The house behind us is from the same period but their garden is about 6 feet above our garden. I do wonder if the concrete connects to the concrete retaining wall at the end of the garden that forms the barrier between ours and theirs. Hard to check unfortunately as there is another natural stone wall in between. Anyway, we were glad to find the bluestone! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

marie-helene | 12 years and 2 months ago

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My best guess: the builder of the house created a u-shape walk made out of bluestones, and over time, because of grading issues, it started to get covered by earth. In the 50’s or 60’s, instead of doing the right thing (popping the bluestones out, regrading and reinstalling the walk/creating a patio), the owners did the cheap thing and added a layer of concrete on top of the walk.  Then more soil built up on top of that.  If you can’t find the back of the U, maybe originally the garden was longer?  How old is the house behind yours?