A certified dry stone waller, mason, and instructor.

Michael Murphy is a dry stone waller, mason, and instructor based in Elberta, Michigan. He grew up in Detroit and spent childhood summers in northern Michigan and Ontario, where stone was part of the landscape before it became a trade.

His first wall was a small fieldstone retaining wall for a sloping family vegetable garden. After a double major in political science and geography — and stints in the cross-country ski industry, carpentry, and real estate — he came to dry stone walling in 2007, at a Dry Stone Conservancy workshop in Kentucky taught by visiting master British wallers, where he also competed in the national dry stone walling competition.

One of those instructors — Neil Rippingale, a Scottish DSWA-GB Level 4 waller and the Conservancy’s training program manager — became his mentor and friend, and the two went on to build Dry Stone Conservancy projects across several states.

Today he holds a DSWA-GB Level 3 Advanced Certificate and a Dry Stone Conservancy Journeyman Certificate, and is a certified instructor through both. He tested for his certification at The Stone Trust in Vermont — the main center for dry stone training and certification in the United States — where he now teaches.

His work is grounded in the practical discipline of dry stone construction — gravity, friction, weight, weather, and the patient fit of one stone against the next. Walls, paving, restoration, and the occasional special feature are treated as one practice.

The finished work is quiet by design. A retaining wall should hold the bank and settle into the site. A freestanding wall should define space without feeling imposed. A paved path should feel inevitable underfoot.

Michael now works on private commissions, restoration projects, and teaching programs across the Great Lakes, northern New England, and farther afield when the project calls for it.