Fences protect our property, keep our animals in, and designate who owns what. They’re vital to our society and many of our laws too, which are focused on possession. The backyard fence is something so common in our lives that you may not have ever paused to think of how it came to be. They had to start somewhere at sometime, though. So, when was it? Surely our ancestors way back in the Bronze Age weren’t putting stone fences around their caves. Actually they were!
-Fences have been discovered from thousands of years ago and show a society slowly forming. Unlike the early humans who followed the herds, human built these stone fences in the Bronze Age which indicate that the builders did not plan on going anywhere anytime soon.
-When you think about it, the Great Wall of China is a giant fence. Although made of stone and thousands of miles long, it was built to protect China from its neighbors to the North. This is the purpose of many fences, stone or otherwise.
-The second king of Rome, Numa, declared that all land owning men should outline their land with stones in honor of a recent Roman conquest. These ancient Romans, as well as the Greeks that followed, would build fences around land they had conquered in foreign lands to claim it as their own.
-Anglo-Saxons, originating in what is now Great Britain, commonly grew hedges as eco-friendly fences. These fences were very beneficial to the ecosystems, because crops, soil, and wildlife that lived and grew inside.
-Early America began to see fences popping up as well. Settlers began making the iconic Virginia Worm Fences to stake their claim. The sturdy, zigzagging fences were simple to do, because they did not require any posts to be placed, and inexpensive to make. Somewhat at the same time, Native Americans in the eastern United States used high stockades to enclose their villages.
The most often used reason for fencing in the early days involved the domestication of animals on farms and ranches. We still do this today, keeping our farm animals and pets safe in our own yards by using fencing. As time went on, homes began to be built closer together and the privacy fence developed to ensure that other people were not bothersome. Modern fences have now become decorative as well, serving to break up a wonderful garden space into smaller areas. Whatever your desired type of fence, Central Fence can help. We offer a free estimate to help you decide if a new fence is needed and fits into your budget. Contact us today for more information.
