The bane of North Texas gardeners is the clay in our soil. It makes gardening so hard, we have to add sand and soil to our flowerbeds to break it up so our flowers will grow. That same clay is excellent for brick making. There is a large vein of clay that runs from Central Texas, across Oklahoma and Arkansas, and on into Virginia and Maryland. It has, in varying degrees, the right combination of clay, sand and silt for brick making. Within the belt is an ideal band called the Wilcox formation that has no iron in it, making it even better for brick making. It runs from San Antonio up to Arkansas. North Texas sits in the middle of the mother lode of brick making clay. My friend Anne collects Texas bricks, they have the town where they were made stamped into the clay before it is fired/baked. These were stacked along her fence on Padre Island, so fun to hear her stories of where she found them. All Texas bricks are terra-cotta in color, a beautiful rust orange that is used for homes, businesses and even streets. As with most everything, there is a national association of brick collectors, Texas bricks are highly coveted by the group. This for the rainbow color orange today and the words challenge!
Such beautiful terra cotta bricks and a great collection - love the history of these local bricks , Ann must have been collecting them for many years ! Super and unusual find for rainbow - orange - well done !
Lovely shot and interesting info. Where we live in the winelands, it is also all clay. We had to have the garden dug up and replaced with soil and compost.
Interesting narrative to go with your wonderful image of the bricks. We have a similar problem on Beaver Island because it's all sand, and we have to add compost over years, as well as soil and manure, to create an area that can sustain any kind of plants at all.
I live in Sanford, NC, which used to be called Brick City USA, because it was one of the biggest producers of bricks in the U.S. because of the thick orange clay here. I can't even grow real grass in my yard, only some weeds. But, a mile south of us, the sandhills start and that's even worse.
I love "text" and the texture these create as a group! Had I garnered one brick "back when", I, too, could have become a collector! They're so charming!
March 5th, 2020
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