Fences, believe it or not, have a storied history that dates back to the earliest of civilizations. At Secure Fence and Rail our contractors have been building quality fences in Brevard County for more than 20 years. We thought you might find it interesting how the fence came to be and how it’s evolved from civilization to civilization.
- The inventor of the fence cannot be pinpointed but the use of this technology to keep things out, and make flourish what lies within is certainly a major milestone in the early stages of human civilization.
- Jean-Jacques Rousseau said of the inventor of the fence, “ The first man who, having fenced in a piece of land, said ‘ This is mine,’ and found people naïve enough to believe him, that man was the true founder of civil society.”
- Stone fences built in the Bronze Age indicate that the fence builders did not plan on going anywhere anytime soon.
- The second king of Rome, Numa, declared that all landowning men should outline their land with stones in honor of one of their gods,Terminalia, to celebrate their conquest.
- Ancient Greeks and Romans would build fences around land they had conquered in foreign lands to claim it as their own.
- Anglo-Saxons were notorious for growing hedges as fences that were very beneficial to the ecosystems, including crops, soil and wildlife, that lived and grew inside.
- Early American settlers began making the iconic Virginia Worm Fences to stake their claim. The sturdy, zigzagging fences were easy and cheap to make, and did not require any posts to be placed.
- Native Americans in the eastern United States used high stockades to enclose their villages.
- In the 1880s barbed wire was invented and used by ranchers in the Wild West to keep new settlers from encroaching on pasture land.
So next time you look outside to bask in the glory of your new wood, vinyl or aluminum fence, think about how far we’ve come as a civilization. Instead of piling up a bunch of rocks to keep invaders at bay, we’re putting up puppy pickets to keep the likes of Jelly and her four-legged posse from escaping.