At the front of a high-end residential development of Edinburgh in Chesapeake, VA, lies a $2 million cascading waterfall feature comprised of a variety of natural stones in random-sized, three-dimensional pieces. Tri-State Stone and Building Supply, Inc. of Bethesda, MD, supplied the stone material for the project.

“The overall design goal for the project was to provide an amenity that would make this development unique and make people want to move here,” said Therese Steele, project manager with Precon Development Corp. - owner of the subdivision - who added that the project was a vision of the company's president, W. Preston Fussell.

According to Steele, the company met with many designers to discuss the project, and ultimately selected Dennis Clark with Millennium Engineering in Virginia Beach to design the structure portion of the project using gabions and crushed concrete - which was readily available at Precon's yard.

“Brian Wall and Greg Marable at Pace Collaborative, also of Virginia Beach, were hired to design the pump system that would re-circulate the water throughout the system, as well as, the electrical design to make the system work,” Steele explained. “We then needed someone to come up with some kind of liner system and placement of the stones to make the waterfall look realistic.”

Steele said they engaged Doug Clark with Specialty Pool and Fountain, Inc. of Silver Spring, MD, to find a source for the stone, as well as to install the stone pieces. According to Steele, Clark had worked on many smaller ponds and gardens in the past, and his main stone contact was Bill Prunka with Tri-State Stone and Building Supply, Inc., which supplied the stone for this project.

Approximately 500 tons of Pennsylvania Field/Mountain stone was utilized for the cascade portion of the waterfall, as well as the brook underneath the pedestrian bridge.

In addition, about 55 tons of Pennsylvania veneer stone was selected for the face of the waterfall, and two tons of Pennsylvania Irregular Flagstone was used to cap off the edges of the veneer for the stone at the face of the waterfall.

According to Steele, the amount of workers building the structure varied from week to week, but on average, there were about 10 employees/subcontractors - who were supervised by Dusty Halstead, project superintendent with Precon Construction Co. - onsite at any give time. Steele also said that the installation of the stone and veneer took about a month to complete, and the stones on both structures were left naturally finished.

Steele said one of the challenges the crew faced regarded lack of storage. “Delivery of the stone began September 1, 2004, in order to have it all available for November,” she said, adding that they therefore had to find a place to store the stone until they were ready to install it.

Construction of the project, including the excavation of a large lake system that would provide the water for the new system, began in June of 2004 - after six months of design work. The project was completed in December 2004.

Cascading stone waterfall High-end residential development of Edinburgh Chesapeake, VA

Owner: Precon Development Corp., Chesapeake, VA
Designer: Millennium Engineering, Virginia Beach, VA
Electrical Engineer: Pace Collaborative, Virginia Beach, VA
Stone Installer: Specialty Pool and Fountain, Inc., Silver Spring, MD
Stone Supplier: Tri-State Stone and Building Supply, Inc., Bethesda, MD