WORCESTER—One could say that John Buell has rocks in his head, and stones as well, but they don’t stay in there for long.
When Buell, 74, looks at a rock or a stone, all sorts of sculpting ideas pop into his head.
“I’ll see a picture of a stone and I will say, ‘I can carve that,’” he said.
He’s carved about 100 stone sculptures in a rock garden in his yard at 42 Holden St. and he plans to keep sculpting for as long as he can.
“Right now, I have two years of ideas using sandstone and paint,” he said.
For many years, Buell landscaped, planted ornamental trees and built pathways, elevated flower beds, stone bridges and dry river beds in his acre-and-a-half backyard which abuts Indian Lake. He also stacked and arranged stones.
Then in early 2004 he took a stone sculpture course that Tom Kellner taught at the Worcester Art Museum. That summer, Kellner carved and polished a sculpture called, “The First Head,” on a stone found in Buell’s yard. Buell and four relatives used large bars to tilt and turn the stone so it would look up at the sky. A photo of Buell and the others moving the stone appeared on the cover of the 2006 Worcester Art Museum catalog.
Since then, Buell has used his knowledge of tools and techniques to carve, drill, polish and assemble by himself about 100 stone sculptures that he displays on his property. He calls his creation, “Stone Head Rock Gardens,” because most of his sculptures are stone heads.
Buell doesn’t sell his stones or carve them for non-relatives. He mostly builds them for himself and doesn’t charge to view the stone sculptures in his yard or for him to provide tours. If visitors insist, he’ll put out a tip bucket. All he asks is for interested parties to book appointments by contacting him at johnbuell42@gmail.com.
“I do enjoy showing the yard,” he said. “There are stories about all of them. I could spend hours telling you.”
He even provides visitors a brochure with a history and a layout of the garden.
Buell said visitors are welcome whenever snow doesn’t cover the ground, but once or twice a year to generate interest he displays a sign in his front yard reading, “Rock Gardens tours open.” He estimated 50-75 people visit each year and stay as little as 15 minutes or up to three hours.
Buell traveled around the world selling rolling mills for Morgan Construction before retiring nine years ago. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have lived in their home for 44 years. They have three daughters and seven grandchildren.
When Buell visited the Hawaiian island of Maui, he was impressed with stones that actor Anthony Quinn had carved and displayed in a storefront in Lahaina. So he copied one of Quinn’s stone heads nearly 20 years ago and he displays it in his front yard next to stones reading, “Stone Head Rock Gardens” and “Welcome.”
So why has Buell spent so much time carving stone sculptures in his yard?
“The joke is that it’s therapy,” he said, “but it’s not a joke. I can come out and I can spend four or five hours and I become wrapped up in what I’m doing. Then all of sudden, I look up and think, ‘What time is it? It’s dinner time.’ It’s something that I enjoy.”
Buell doesn’t know of anyone else who has such a hobby.
“My wife thinks it’s the secret of a long marriage,” Buell said. “I spend all my time outdoors and she spends all her time indoors.”
“I think it’s great,” Elizabeth said. “It’s really consumed a lot of his time, given him something to do all these years. The progression has been amazing, from the beginning to what he does today. He’s really, really into it. We love it when he’s out there. He’s in his element.”
Buell said it takes him 30 to 100 hours to carve a stone, about half the time it did when he first started. It took him a while to get used to working with a high-powered, right-angle grinder. Fortunately, he’s never injured himself while sculpting.
For the first 10 years, he carved stones he found in his yard. Then he began purchasing granite, marble, quartz and limestone from Sansoucy Stone. Over the years, he has bought more than 150 tons of stone for his sculptures.
Buell is currently painting limestone reliefs, a type of sculpture where figures project from a flat background. After he carves them in his yard, he paints them in his workshop in the sunroom that provides a view of his backyard.
Buell estimated that over the years he’s spent about $2,000 on tools and another $2,000 on stones. That’s not a lot for a hobby that has lasted for so long.
Buell’s rock garden has a stone totem pole carved with ancient spiritual and religious symbols. There’s a sculpture from the waist up of Khafre, an ancient Egyptian pharaoh.
Buell even carved his own headstone, with his name and date of birth. Eventually, someone will fill in the month, day and last two numbers of the year of his death. He’s already etched “20” for the first two numbers of the year.
Buell doesn’t plan to be buried at the head stone, but he said his ashes might be spread there. He even considered taking part in a rehearsal of the celebration of his life before he passed. That idea was met with mixed reactions.
The bottom of his headstone reads: “Into the Mystic,” from the Van Morrison song, whose lyrics include: “Let your soul and spirit fly into the mystic.”
Buell thinks those lyrics are appropriate because he believes there is a mystical, spiritual aspect to his rock gardens.
For some of his stones, he felt no reason to carve anything. Instead, all he did was remove the outer layer to reveal the beauty of the natural color underneath and polish it.
On his deck abutting Indian Lake, he displays a rotating stone head he carved with mouth, nose and marbles for the eyes. He calls it, “That’s All Folks,” which Porky Pig says at the end of each Looney Tune cartoon. Buell thinks that slogan is fitting because it’s the last of his stones before his property reaches the lake.
Buell has a small rowboat and kayak, but he doesn’t use them often. He’s too busy with his rock garden.
Buell likes to use humor when naming his stones. One is named “Help, I’m a Rock.” Another is named “Pizza Head.” There’s even one called, “Gumby,” because it resembles the cartoon character. Buell thinks it also looks like Jay Leno.
For more information, visit Buell on Facebook.
Bill Doyle has been a professional journalist for 47 years, most of them as a sports writer for the Telegram & Gazette. He covered the Boston Celtics for 25 years and has written extensively about golf, boxing and local high school and college sports. He also worked for the campus newspaper when he attended UMass-Amherst. He can be reached at billdoyle1515@gmail.com
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