T.D. Smith Stonemasonry

OUR TEAM

T.D. Smith Stonemasonry is a family, literally and otherwise! My wife, Laura, and I have grown our business over the past three decades to include our children, apprentices recruited from their neighborhood, and several local master craftsmen. We are proud to call these fine people our partners.


I have been a stonemason for 30 years. I discovered the power of natural building stones in Vermont in the late 1960's, where I was teaching public school. I learned my craft at the top of the towers of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City under the hard driving British Master builders James Bambridge, Alan Bird & Steven Boyle. I worked with them for ten magical years as an apprentice until becoming a Journeyman mason. Turns out I didn't have to journey very far, as I settled in the culturally rich Hudson River Valley.

My stonemason wife Laura, our two children, and I, work out of Hudson, New York, in Columbia County. We're in the middle of a tremendous 18th and 19th Century restoration movement where the old way of building is of immense value. Together with our brick layer, Jeff Stalling, and mason, Jay Perez, our crews restored the old Blacksmith shop, the oldest building in the city of Hudson.

At the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, under the excellent tutelage of Dean James Park Morton and Bishop Paul Moore, local Harlem youths were trained in the high art of Gothic stonecutting. This highly successful training program became the model for stonecutting programs wordwide. Inspired by this experience, Laura and I train local youths from Columbia County to build a large variety of masonry challenges, like huge stone waterfalls, massive stone fireplaces and bread ovens, and 10 foot high rose garden stucco walls. The centerpiece of the trade is to continually teach young men and women the art of dry-laid stone wall building, which can be done year 'round.

A love of beauty, a college degree in geology, hard work, plus a spirit that is out to "save the world" has put her at the top of the stonemasonry world, and not just for female masons. Her keen business and math skills enable the company to tackle all kinds of masonry jobs. No job is too small or too large for the tight-knit crew. Laurie leads by example to encourage everyone to work together to tackle all aspects of masonry work.

Robert Charron's father, Albert, was a French Canadian logger who married a local woman. Albert Charron tore down 4 of the 6 mills in Philmont and sold the bricks. Robert worked alongside his father as a young man, loading and delivering bricks. When Tim Smith taught Robert the craft of bricklaying, he "took to it like a duck to water." Today, Robert runs all the heavy equipment for T.D. Smith Stonemasonry.

In addition to working with us, Robert has his own landscaping, firewood, and heavy equipment contracting company.

Jeff was initially brought onto the team to assist with a Hudson restoration project, and soon became our master brick mason. Jeff learned his trade the hard way — toiling in North Carolina as an apprentice. Now, he runs his own contracting business.

Jeff is schooled in all forms of practical masonry. He builds all our brick fireplaces and repairs foundations.

Ben Hart is a hometown man. He has learned and mastered every aspect of practical masonry. He's most in his element when he's building a long stone wall that meanders through the woods.

Ben has a spirit and work ethic that never quits until the job is done right. He is a jack of all trades, so he is always a busy man!

Born into the brick business, Jay is a local stonemason who can lay up a good amount stonework in a day. Always eager to learn new and challenging skills, Jay has easily become the best stonemason in the area within just 3 or 4 short years. His attention to detail and quality control is unmatched.

Examples of his work can be found throughout this website.

In many ways, a job site is equivalent to a school campus. All the exciting aspects of learning are there: daily challenges, and new situations in which to use one's maturity and ingenuity to create functional products that exceed client expectations and last forever.

Our aim is for our apprentices to apply the skills and creative thinking they learn on the job to their personal lives. The key ingredient is hard work. A willingness to work hard isn't taught — it's embraced by being around those who succeed because of their strong work ethic. Our apprentices learn to be successful on the job and in life by doing it with their own hands and seeing the fruits of their labor at the end of each day.

Our philosophy for our apprenticeship program is simple: Mistakes are valuable learning tools, because you'll never make them twice. No experience is necessary — anyone can apply! We start young men and women as laborers and they work their way up by mastering the skills of masonry.

Copyright © 2007, 2008 T.D. Smith Stonemasonry