[1] Unlike bridges, stepstone crossings typically have no spans, although wood planks or stone slabs can be placed over between the stones (which serve as the piers) to improvise as low-water bridges.

Although their historical origin is unknown, stepping stones, along with log bridges, are likely to have been among the earliest means of crossing inland bodies of water devised by humans.

In traditional Japanese gardens, the term iso-watari refers to stepping stone pathways that lead across shallow parts of a pond, which work like a bridge-like slower crossing.

Today, stepping stones are commonly used by mountaineers and hikers as a makeshift way of crossing uncharted or unanticipated streams and torrents.

The Drukken Steps in the Eglinton Woods of North Ayrshire in Scotland were a favourite haunt of poet Robert Burns and his companion Richard Brown, while the two were living in Irvine from 1781 to 1782.