Lexington is trying to save this iconic 80-year-old stone fence. Find out how.

Stone masons are working to restore a more than 800-foot stone fence along Old Frankfort Pike that is likely more than 80 years old.

The fence is on city-owned property now used by Lexington’s waste management as a driver training facility and for household hazardous waste collection.

James Miles, a Paris-contractor who has been hired to restore the fence, said most of the existing stones will be used to rebuild the stone wall that was likely built by the Civilian Conservation Corps sometime in the 1930s. It’s similar to Normandy Farm’s fence built in 1931 also on Paris Pike. The Civilian Conservations Corps was a federal work program started during the Great Depression that ran between 1933 and 1942.

“We’re probably putting about 95 percent (of the existing wall) back,” Miles said. “One of the great things about a dry stone fence is that you can tear it down and reuse the same stone.”

Any new stones will be locally sourced. Miles and the city estimate it will take workers more than a month to rebuild the wall that had fallen into disrepair of the years.

Stone fences are iconic in the Lexington area, lining many older roadways such as Old Frankfort Pike.

The good news? Once the wall is repaired, Miles estimates that it will last 100 years if humans don’t do anything to damage it.

“If nobody hits it, or trees are not allowed to grow in it, if they don’t ditch too close to it, if they don’t dig around it to put utilities around it, it ought to be good for 100 or 200 years,” Miles said.

This story was originally published October 1, 2018 at 2:22 PM.