Centenary College Arboretum: Clay Cleanup and Local Masonry Relics

Friday, December 6, 2024

Clay Cleanup and Local Masonry Relics

In this post from November, we showed an arboretum eyesore. Recent service-work on a water leak resulted in major dirtwork. The excavator destroyed the topsoil, tore roots, and covered a gravel path. With work on the underlying infrastructure *possibly* completed, we can start restoring the landscape. The photos below show the clean-up operation in progress.

This photo is from our November 12th blog post. We see the aftermath of the service work. Large mounds of muddy clay were left on the surface of the ground after a large root ball was extracted from a clogged drain. It was a substantial water leak so the soil was saturated.

As the soil slowly dried, clods of clay were broken up and distributed. In this photo, we see that the ground is still an uneven, rough mess with tripping hazards.

Thankfully most of the clay clods have dried and can be picked up and moved. This was impossible a week ago.

The excavator timbers used to create a terrace and protect our path were run over and their structural rebar supports were bent out of shape. This whole area had to be dug up and rebuilt by hand.

After reshaping the path, the landscape looks much more inviting.

After several hours of work, the path is more-or-less clear and somewhat level.

Restructuring the path brought our attention to a collection of vintage bricks used to line the lower portion of the path. J. E. Whiteselle opened a construction business in 1875. This was carried on until its eventual closure some time in the 1980s. During the course of its existence, tens of millions of bricks like the one below were produced in Corsicana, Texas. Today many of them rest beneath the asphalt of small Texas towns' streets, in fields, in old homes, and yes, even in the Centenary College arboretum. This is made of a red clay mined in Corsicana, and many people find this brick evocative and attractive.