The north wall of Wiscasset’s Sunken Garden is being dismantled and put back together. All the granite stones are the ones that have made up the wall since the 1800s, Public Works Director Ted Snowden said Oct. 27. The rebuild should be fine for 20 years, at least, he said.

Over the years, the trees had grown into the wall and pushed it in, Snowden explained. “I had deemed it unsafe because, the way the rocks were leaning, it could have fallen in on someone ... We saved the trees and they will be replanted.”

The approximately $15,000 capital improvement started late October and, with recent rain that slowed work, might be done by about Nov. 4, Snowden said. “Doing a stone wall is pretty complicated.” The department is helping Alna contractor Mark Rego, who according to Wiscasset’s 2010 annual report also restored the south wall.

Asked Oct. 27 about the north wall project, Selectman and Appearance of the Town Committee Chair Terry Heller said: “Well, at first it was scary to see everything dug up. But Ted Snowden, every project he takes on, turns out just perfect. I just have so much confidence in him. And we’re going to work together to get some more plants. We’ll put some of the plants back that were there and do some more that are period plants.”

Heller added, a fundraising effort is being eyed to raise back up the Sunken Garden’s brick path. It has sunk and mud runs over it, she said. “We have a sunken path in the Sunken Garden.”