Preserve staff restore Thuya Landing path with hand-crafted granite steps

This summer, the Preserve accomplished a remarkable feat of restoration, artistry, and stewardship using only our own resources. On the path to the Thuya Landing, years of wear had left behind cracked, unsightly pavement leading from the parking area on Peabody Drive. What had once been a graceful approach had become a blemish on the experience of arriving at this historic site. 

Thuya Landing; photo by Nikolai Fox

Thuya Landing; photo by Nikolai Fox

Photos by Nikolai Fox

With a multi-departmental team from gardens, lands, and facilities, Preserve staff set out to finish the transformation of the pathway that had begun years prior. The restoration began with the rebuilding of the shelter and railing, followed by resurfacing the landing patio, and revitalizing the planting beds. Then the most eroded section of the lower landing path surface was repaired using crushed pink granite. The decision to shift away from the asphalt patio and path surface, added in modern times, was to bring back the historic path surface material and improve the beauty of this landscape on the harbor.

To source the material for the path steps, our teams identified a former quarry located off a carriage road north of Little Long Pond, where large granite boulders had been left behind from past extraction events. Many such quarries exist across the island; in this case the granite was used years ago to construct the retaining walls that bolster the carriage roads you see at the Preserve. Our crew extracted the rock with minimal disturbance to the surrounding land and repaired the landscape to look as it did prior to the extraction.

Using granite from our own property is, on rare occasions, the best course of action as it is the same pink granite that was used historically and provides a perfect color match to the existing landscape elements. For the landing project, the team identified five-foot-plus long granite slabs that could be split into steps, as the design called for a full-length step (instead of many smaller granite pieces) to match the existing steps in place at the lower portion of the landing path. Preserve landscape specialist Jason Ashur used the traditional plug-and-feather method—using a drill, steel shims, steel wedges, and a steel mallet—to split the granite into 22 steps.

Jason Ashur uses a high-temperature torch to smooth the surface of the granite before installing these steps on the Thuya Landing pathway.

To give the granite steps a natural, time-worn appearance, Jason first used chisels and a grinder to chip off stone pieces to round the exposed edges of the steps. He then used a high-temperature torch that released water from the stone, causing the individual grains of stone to pop off the area being torched, giving a smoother appearance. Stone splitting and aging by hand is a time-consuming process that requires skill and patience.

The old asphalt was carefully removed by our facilities staff and replaced with pink crushed stone along most of the pathway. The granite steps were added to steepest portions of the pathway. The newly restored path is a fabulous example of how our historic spaces can be revitalized, as though intervention had never occurred.

Photograph by Nikolai Fox.

At the top of the pathway, before and after restoration.

“The Land & Garden Preserve, in many ways, is a celebration of craftsmanship, craftspeople, and the traditional trades,” said Preserve CEO Patrick MacRae. “I can think of few other organizations that have the ingredients to accomplish projects like this one utilizing only our own skilled talent and natural resources. We are astonishingly fortunate.”

This project is more than a functional improvement. It is a demonstration of how the Preserve approaches its work, with respect for natural materials and sustainability, reverence for craftsmanship, and a commitment to stewardship that honors the past while serving the present. Visitors arriving at Thuya Landing path now step onto stone that was quarried, shaped, and placed by our own staff, in keeping with traditions that have sustained our landscapes for nearly a century. The new steps are safer, more beautiful, and more fitting to their surroundings. 

Originally built in the 1930s, the Thuya Landing is a tranquil sitting area on Northeast Harbor. Its dock continues to welcome visitors who tie up their boats and climb the Asticou Terraces to reach Thuya Garden on the hill or continue their hike across Eliot Mountain. Thanks to this summer’s restoration, that journey is now truer than ever to the spirit of the place. 

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