An example of a split-rail fence.
Fences are a common and useful landscaping feature that people have used throughout history for marking the boundary lines of properties, for keeping animals enclosed in certain areas, and for defining spaces within landscaping designs. While the oldest fences were simple and utilitarian in design, they grew in complexity and ornamentation as the years progressed. Does this Spark an idea?
Split-Rail Fences
According to Old House Journal, split-rail fences were some of the earliest fences to appear in the American colonies, and consisted of long horizontal rails, which workers would make by splitting logs. In most instances, there would be either two or three rows of rails, which ran in parallel. Posts would connect the long rails, and the design allowed the fences to stretch and snake over long tracts of land. While farmers originally used the fences for enclosing cattle, people also used them domestically, particularly in rural areas, up until the late 19th century.
Picket Fences
The picket fence style dates back to the late 18th century, when European settlers in North America made improvements to palings, according to Old House Journal. A paling was a medieval fence style, which workers made by sticking a series of rounded stakes or flat strips of wood into the ground. Picket fencing similarly emphasized the repetition of vertical elements, but also included two rails: one that ran across the tops of the uprights, or pickets, and one that ran across their bottoms. According to High Point Fence Company, today, picket fences are typically around 4 feet tall and have one-and-a-half-inch gaps between their pickets.
Classical
Between 1714 and 1850, three separate classical architectural styles became prominent in Europe and the American colonies. According to Old House Journal, these were the Georgian from 1714 to 1810, the Federal from 1790 to 1830, and the Greek revival from 1830 to 1850. All three styles had a similar effect on fencing, which resulted in more ornamentation. Classical fences often had top rails that covered pickets, as well as carved finials, or angular roof-like features, on fence posts. Fence designers during this era of classical revival also often incorporated motifs such as fruit and flames in the fencing they built. Eagles were a particularly popular motif during the Federal period.
Gothic
The Gothic Revival from 1830 to 1860 coincided with the end of its classical counterpart. Fencing from the period typically featured a number of medieval elements, such as ornamental stonework, or tracery, and pickets and posts with pointed tops, resembling spires. Quatrefoil and trefoil motifs, which feature four-lobed and three-lobed plants, respectively, were some of the most popular designs that people incorporated into Gothic-style fences.
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