The stone is real, not thin or stick on. I had one fall off on the
big square lamp post out front, I think some kid kicked it off on
Halloween a few years back. It left a big socket where it was. The
exterior wall is basically concrete block, then there is what appears
to be concrete used as mortar to stick the stone directly on to the
block wall. This is close to what the stone is like (but it's not
this fancy a home and our stone was more random sizes and shapes, not
real uniform sizes) :

http://www.buildingstonemagazine.com...hinStone15.jpg

Not really worried about what's beside the stone as it's all rough
lumber siding that we're replacing. We're worried if we break the
stone off the wall it will leave the concrete "sockets" behind where
the stone was. When we try to break this concrete off the face of the
block, will it damage the underlying block? It just seems if the
concrete behind and around the stones is stuck well to the block, what
says that breaks off rather then the block breaking? The house was
built aroun 1982 so it's been there a while.