Stonefruit Construction Co. is a design-build masonry company that specializes in all structures stone and mortar. We partner with clients from first ideas through final installation, helping shape the concept, resolve practical challenges, select materials, and build the project. We work in Chapel Hill, Durham, and beyond.
Led by founder Emily Shepherd—a lifelong environmentalist who dedicated the first ten years of her working life to wildlife conservation and wildland firefighting—Stonefruit approaches every project as if the beauty and timelessness of stonecraft belongs in every home.
“Let us think, as we lay stone on stone, that a time is to come when those stones will be held sacred because our hands have touched them, and that men will say as they look upon the labour and wrought substance of them, ‘See! This our fathers did for us.’”
–John Ruskin, The Lamp of Architecture
Featured work
Duke Gardens-Style Patio
Each massive stone in this 350-square-foot Chapel Hill patio was hand-fit without mortar, a detailed geometric puzzle of flagstone and boulder designed to create seamless joints and lasting strength.
Chapel Hill
Flagstone & Brick Patio
A blush brick ribbon defines the curve of this magnolia-shade terrace, set in blue-and-rust stone with thin cream joints. The palette reads cool at a glance, then warms like sunset as you move through the garden.
Durham
Meditation Garden
This Raleigh pathway project features a shift from order to organic form, blending function, symbolism, and design. Distinct gravel textures meet and merge, framed by brick edging that intentionally fades, as if time itself is softening its boundaries. Subtle details, like scattered bricks and a small patio beneath the bird feeders, turn the space into both a meditative walk and a living installation within the landscape.
Raleigh
Boulder Installation
Boulder placement is part art, part geology. Each stone has a natural grain, and setting it well means reading those lines, angles, and layers until the arrangement feels inevitable. These Chapel Hill boulder installations are buried partly below ground and oriented to the landscape, balancing peaks, and shadow, so the boulders appear not added, but uncovered.
Chapel Hill
Flagstone Pathway with Brick Edging
This Durham flagstone and brick pathway extends from the front porch to the street. The new design adds curb appeal, featuring a custom step with a hand-cut brick leaf pattern.
Durham
Reclaimed Brick Pathway
A new life for 300 salvaged chimney bricks. We adapted a homeowner’s original idea to develop this Durham brick pathway for functional drainage and stability, resulting in a durable walkway that stays clean and easy to navigate.
Durham
Built on tradition
Stonefruit’s work is grounded in study, observation, and practice. Under the mentorship of master mason Brooks Burleson, Emily refined her understanding of structure, balance, and the dialogue between stone and setting. Their work together has included large-format projects such as a dry stack retaining wall in Hillsborough and a reclaimed millstone patio at Duke Gardens, both built with the precision and care that define this tradition.
