Gather Round the Fire

By Fancey Miller

Human beings have long and established relationship with fire. The beginning of this relationship was about warmth and protection. The natural extension of this was warming food, thus cooking was born. Then, fire took its place in ceremony. All around the world fire still holds a place in countless ceremonies. It went on to be considered a fundamental element. Humans also used their dear friend, fire, as a tool to reshape the environment and a weapon.

Somewhere in the timeline people figured out how pleasant it was to sit next to the fire and talk. Talk about the weather and condition of the roads or talk about stories. Stories of feats maybe just a bit too fantastic to be believed and treasured because of it. Stories of how people, animals, and the environment came to be. Stories of how one should live. From the delightful to the didactic, stories were, are, and will be told around fires.

Occasionally we must slow down, step away from our harried pursuits. We must do things in a contemplative space. We need to eat something that didn’t cook in our microwave or that wasn’t pulled from a 30-minutes-or-less cookbook. We need to talk and listen to one another lit by orange flames instead of blue screens. When that time comes, we should build a fire, roast something over the flames, and tell a good story.

We could go to the woods tent in tow. We could buy a fire pit available at any home

improvement store. Or we could have a bespoke fire pit built in our own backyard. Any one of these is a viable choice. If you should decide to go the bespoke backyard route, we can help you. The fire pits featured throughout this post were constructed for the owners of the Historic Bel Air 1740 venue. They are extremely pleased with the result, as are the guests of the venue.

These fire pits and the retaining wall were constructed with natural rock. The fire pits were fitted with gas inserts, but we can also build them for wood burning. The toppers are rings we made out of concrete. We also poured and stamped the fire pit pads and walkways.