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Divine Stone

Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard

Hats, Caps and Scarves
Wearing her trademark headscarf Arlene “Poni” Baptiste poses for a portrait on Feb. 24, 1981.

The Cathedral cutting and carving sheds were always filled with the sounds of chisels and mallets chipping away at limestone blocks. And with the chipping, limestone dust filled the air and settled on every surface, especially one’s hands and head. The fashion trends in the stone yard demonstrate some solutions.

Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard
Without a hat to protect, limestone chips are caught in Nils Peele’s hair while he works on a stone on Oct. 3, 1980.

Many cutters and carvers resorted to conventional headgear to keep away the dust but some brought style and fashion flair with their hats and scarves. Two trend setters that stood out from the rest were Timothy Smith and Arlene “Poni” Baptiste.

One of the five original apprentice stone cutters, Timothy sported an array of berets, straw hats and baseball caps. Timothy recently said, “I love hats. I see a good hat and I buy it. I just collect them.” He added, “We were always outside and a hat was important.”

Fashion trends at the stone yard
Timothy Smith sports a straw hat with wide brim while cleaning out excess stone from a large block on July 8, 1981.

Timothy’s berets often included pins with military insignias that he would buy from Army Navy stores and add to his hats.

Fashion trends at the the stone yard
Timothy Smith takes a break from cutting stone as he puffs on his pipe on Oct. 3, 1980. The insignia on his hat is from The Gloucestershire Regiment, an infantry regiment of the British Army. Tim said he probably bought the pin at an Army Navy store and added it to his beret.

While many women stone cutters and carvers simply wrapped a kerchief around their heads to protect them from the stone dust,

Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard
Jessica Aujero wraps a floral print scarf tightly around her head as she works on her base carving on the Portal of Paradise, seen in August, 1989.

Arlene “Poni” Baptiste was without doubt the stone yard fashionista. She brought an Afro-Caribbean splash of colors and patterns to the long headscarves she always wore. She looked like a Nubian Queen with her elaborately tied scarves that fell onto her shoulders.

Poni explains that the head coverings “often began as just an interesting piece of printed fabric. Some were colorful scarves I bought or was given to me by family and friends because of my well known preference for wearing them.”

“The key is choosing a symmetrical central pattern. A starburst, for instance folded just right yields a radiant crown. Then there is the tying. A knot in the back ain’t quite enough, but twisting the two ends then wrapping and lacing them around my head results in a neat finish.”

And because of the dusty environment she worked in, Poni adds “there is also simply the practical side of it.

My dreads stayed dust free in a stone yard.”

Timothy comments that Poni’s fashion style was “fantastic, so individual and unique. She was also a great stone cutter.”

Fashion trends in the stone yard
Arlene “Poni” Baptiste displays an intricately wrapped head scarf while posing with her column base stone on Aug. 13, 1982.

The stone cutting shed could be frigid in winter so the crew employed an assortment of headgear — from tweed caps to hoodies fastened over hats to thick wool knit hats — to keep the body warm. The fashion trends in the stone yard turned practical.

When work began on the south tower, construction supervisor Stephen Boyle would frequently be seen wearing a hard hat. Others wore them on and off depending upon how hot the temperature got while they were setting stones.

Stephen Boyle
Tower foreman Stephen Boyle cleans the lines of a gablet quatrefoil that the crew just set in September, 1986.

On one occasion hard hats were not meant to keep heads safe from falling objects. The helmets were ceremonial and celebratory on Sept. 29, 1982 when clergy and dignitaries wore blue hard hats to mark the resumption of construction of the tower after a 41-year hiatus. Bishop Paul Moore, usually wearing his imposing miter, swapped it for a hard hat, which he raised in celebration to all assembled.

Bishop Moore
Bishop Paul Moore doffs his hard hard to the crowd during the ceremony marking resumption of the Cathedral’s construction after a 41-year hiatus on Sept. 29, 1982.

One particular hat had a long life at the stone yard, passing from one stone carver to another. Cynie Linton remembers buying a painter’s style brimless hat at a vintage clothing store in Greenwich Village. 

“It was the hat I wore the majority of my eight years as a stone cutter and carver,” Cynie said, the hat “kept stone bits and dust out of my hair.”  

Cynie Linton
Cynie Linton wears an artist’s hat while carving her Pilgrim of Santiago de Campostella buttress gablet stone on June 3, 1985. When she left the Cathedral she handed the hat off to new stone cutter Treese Robb.

When Cynie left the Cathedral for architectural school she passed the hat on to new apprentice Treese Robb. “I don’t actually remember giving it to her…I must have been in a generous and expansive mood,” Cynie said facetiously.

Treese Robb
New apprentice Treese Robb carves a foliage pattern on the crocket of a gable stone in Sept. 10, 1986. She is wearing the hat that colleague Cynie Linton gave her when Linton left for architectural school.

Treese remembers, “I admired Cynie’s hat and she had beautiful wavy hair,” adding that Cynie looked “so darling in that hat.” 

All these years later, Treese still has the hat.

Note to Treese: Cynie misses that hat and wishes she had it back.

More Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard

  • All the images in this article were taken by Robert F. Rodriguez during his decade plus time documenting the activities in the stone yard of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.

4 replies on “Fashion Trends in the Stone Yard”

love to all – Robert, whatever I said, I do not need my hat back, I am glad it continued on without me. Cynie

Some songs to play while reading this entry, from the Carptrash Collection.

You Can Leave Your Hat On -Joe Cocker – Etta James – Tom Jones
I Left My Hat In Haiti-Billy Eckstine
Brand New Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat – Bob Dylan
Hats Off to Larry – Del Shannon
Mexican Hat Dance – The Bassoon Brothers – Percy Faith Orchestra
Mexican Hat Rock – The Applejacks
Big Hat, No Cattle – Randy Newman
Top Hat, White Tie And Tails – Fred Astaire
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat – Charles Mingus
Top Hat – Yehudi Menuhin & Stephane Grappelli
My Own Kind Of Hat – Rosie Flores

Thank you Robert for posting these wonderful photos. I talk about the
building of the south bell tower and those who worked on it every Monday on my 2PM vertical tour. Congratulations to all for your time, devotion, talent & hard work. Your legacy lives on! Bill Schneberger,
Educator, Public Education & Visitor Services Dept.

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