Belgian block–so called because originally quarried in the Low Countries, are squared off granite blocks tailored to fit between the frames often miscalled ribs of sailing vessels, where they serve as ballasts, lowering a ship’s center of gravity and making it stiffer–more resistant to heeling with the force of the wind on its sails and rigging.

One day some genius saw this stuff and thought, Jeez! This stuff would be a lot easier to walk and drive on than those cobblestones and so we got belgian-block streets. Nowadays, with a dwindling supply of old genuine block, each time a street has to be opened up to permit work, some of the block finds its way to the ‘burbs to become patios and bbqs.