Tag Archives for stonehenge replica

Bookhenge, or Henging with the OED in the Maritimes

oed-henge

Photo by John  “the Bookmonger” Doull, with permission

Sorry for the late post! We are crying in our utterly un-beerlike beverage this evening after being turned down–representatives of an artist who created a vaguely Stonehenge-like sculpture not only denied us photo permissions but asked that we never reference the sculpture on our blog as the artist had no intention of referencing Stonehenge. *sob!* So if and when we ever end this blog, there will always be at least one structure out there that people will think we missed! Still, we do respect artists, so that’s that.

Anyway, on to the matter at hand and that matter is–The Oxford English Dictionary. We assumed when we started this that there would be a lot more bookhenges than there are, books being squarish things and, in many homes at least, always at hand. So we’ve kept our eyes peeled for a bookhenge worth posting and along came this bit of poetry with a lovely late (or is it early? Wait, book lover, right? Late it is, then!) Nova Scotia light giving the books and the sand a rosy glow.

The sand and the implication of leisure time begin to set up a scene of peace and relaxation until we remember to imagine someone lugging a bunch of old dictionaries out there and building a henge when they could have been taking a romantic sunset walk. Hmmm, what manner of people are these? Perhaps a bit too much like us.

And what do they get for it? How many druids can we give for such a rudimentary construction? These are hardy northern souls and they can take the bitter disappointment of getting no more than 4 druids for their bit of OED play. Now, who can help us get the verb “to henge” into the next edition?!

Bonehenge, or who can resist a pun?

bonehenge

photo by kaymoshusband, henge by Winnie ?

It’s the first non-stonehenge in the Smithsonian video, and while it’s far from the only bonehenge out there, this one has the advantage of having been made of real bones rather than Milkbones. And, of course, there’s the astronomical aspect.

The caption on Flickr reads:  “Last night I caught Winnie building a working model of Stonehenge on the rug, using the only materials she had available. In this photo, she is double-checking the replica’s precise astronomical alignment, in anticipation of this evening’s Vernal Equinox.” One might expect such expertise from a German shepherd or a border collie, but I suspect astronomers are rare among labradors!

Of course it is not a full replica. Some henges get their druids from chutzpah alone. Score: 5 druids, and our thanks to Bob Gaffney and, of course, Winnie!

Autohenge, Ontario

autohengefromair

photo from williamlishman.com, with permission

Before there was Carhenge, there was Autohenge. Built in 1986 by artist William Lishman at the request of Chrysler for a commercial, it stood proudly on the Canadian landscape for 5 years until it was removed. There is some evidence that suggests Lishman would consider creating anotherAutohenge if he could raise the money.

autohengewithgeese

Maybe it’s just us, but these pictures seem to have caught something melancholy and magnificent. Its history is interesting. How many Stonehenge replicas have been sponsored by major corporations? May that happen more and more!!

We’re nearing the bottom of the list of large replicas. A handful more and then we’ll just be posting small ones. This seems to us to be a good example of a grand tradition. Maybe the Canadian government could give Lishman a grant!

Score: Look at that picture at the top. 8 druids, at least!

P.S.: We do not plan to list Cadillac Ranch, Truckhenge, or Airstream Ranch, as they just are not hengy enough.

Cellphonehenge, a tour de force

cellphonehenge-51We have been saving this one because once it is posted, it is unlikely to be surpassed. Among all the small, homemade henges we have had the privilege to see, this one is a rock star. As inaccurate as it still is as a Stonehenge replica, it has that je ne sais quoi that allows it to rise above.

Listing the faults sounds petty: no lintels on the outer ring and too many trilithons in the center for starts . . . still, what it lacks in the letter it proffers in spirit. The commentary, too, enhances the installation. The caption on the Flickr photo below reads, “A closer view showing how the setting sun in mid summer shines down the avenue of pagers, through the Motorola arch and directly on the altar phone. ” There’s more where that came from.

cellphonehenge-31And whom do we have to blame–no I mean thank!–for this extraordinary henge? Once again it is the work of the inimitable Simon W. Burrow and friends. Here is his Cellphonehenge blog post and here is a Flickr link from which you can click on 7 photos to read the captions.

Score? We’re giving this one 8½ druids. If only they had dug a little ditch and bank with a stick or something . . .

Gardenhenge, after the winter

garden-henge

photos and henge by Kilaana

This henge first caught our eye when we saw it in its full glory:

garden-henge-2

but we find the picture taken after the elements had their way with it even more evocative of the original. This is not, as it appears, just another henge of small stones found nearby. It is the result of thought and work–the ‘stones’ were cast of Sand Topping Mix and then carved to more closely resemble the stones of Stonehenge! These people were determined . . . and perhaps a bit nutty. But in a good way, we think.

Maybe the elements were making a gesture to recognise this when they destroyed the henge in a way that made it resemble its ancient parent. This couple makes cheese henges, too. Kilaana says they are a hit at parties. We want to go to the parties she goes to! We could bring a Stonehenge game and a Stonehenge watch and some crackerhenges to go with their cheesehenges. maybe dress as druids. A party for henge-heads–it’s a thought.

Speaking of druids, there’s the question of a score. We give this one 7½ druids as is. Rebuild it with the trilithons added and we’ll probably give it an eight!

Finals Week Henge, Pasadena CA 2005

stonehengeaerialwebsafe

photo by David Dow, with permission

One of the many motives for building a henge, as we saw in the Snowhenge of the Antarctic post, is for purposes of supplication. We suspect that this temporary henge built at Caltech (California Institute of Technology) for finals week a few years ago may have had such a motive, although whether the goal was good marks or just the end of the *&%$# semester we cannot say.

It has a nice look and at first we misunderstood it to be a permanent installation. The material used appears to be white boxes of some sort. In the photo at this link, (from there you can see a few more photos) you can see that the ‘stones’ were quite large. The representation is overly simple, but then it was built by freshmen. The fire in the center was a nice touch.

Score: 6 druids for thinking big, making it fun and giving it a little ambience!

Stonehenge in der Oberpfalz

oberpfalz-henge

photo by Alfred Schaffer, with permission

In southern Germany near the Czech border stands the simplest of Stonehenge replicas, a single trilithon. We do realize that a trilithon doth not a Stonehenge make, but in this case the circumstances of its creation qualify it as a replica. Once again the imperative to build at least a bit of Stonehenge had its way with the people it needed to make it happen. You can see it on Google Maps:

As far as we can make out by the use of automatically-translated pages (what fun!),  this trilithon was built as a project for a documentary film series about world cultures. Two hundred people helped to move and place the three 40-ton granite stones using methods similar to those the builders of Stonehenge may have used, and all of it was caught on film.

This is not the only German replica. The same nation is responsible for (guilty of?) the best strawhenge ever (and there have been many strawhenges!), Strohhenge. We’ll post more on that another day if we can get more information. Score for the Oberpfalz henge trilithon? Only 5½ druids for it as a Stonehenge replica, but as a monument, what’s not to like?

Laptophenge–Doing it Right!

laptophenge

photo by Simon W. Burrow, with permission, henging by SWB and friends.

We have been admiring this man’s henging skills for a while and this evening we received the much-coveted okey-dokey to post some of his creations.  Hurray! We start with Laptophenge, which boasts $100,000 worth of old laptops. To quote the blog post:

“Fifty old laptops of course equals fifty crashed hard drives and an equal number of unhappy people.  Hopefully the joy created by Laptophenge has restored some of the karmic balance to the universe.“

We have no doubt that it has! Look at the joy here.

And this is not all–a henge t-shirt was created for the henging event that resulted in Laptophenge–a shirt we must post:
henge-t-shirt

Clearly these are people after our own hearts!And you haven’t even seen cellphonehenge and its ancient avenue of pagers . . . So many henges, so little time!

Laptophenge is an amazing creation. The t-shirt is just icing on the cake, the very best, most delicious icing.  Score: 7½ druids for our first California henge. We look forward to bringing you more works by Mr. Burrow. Happy New Year, everyone!

Colorado’s Stonehenge, The Rock Garden

colorado-gallery2-8

Welcome to Fort Collins, Colorado, home of Colorado’s Stonehenge, located at the headquarters of The Rock Garden [beware–potentially annoying music accompanies the site until you click on the Stop Sound button!] a seller of natural stone products. These photos are from their website, and, yes, they do advertise as Colorados’ Stonehenge.

colorado-gallery2-2

However there does not appear to be a Stonehenge replica here, just some trilithons and the constructions above–what would you call them?–with a lintel over the ends of two adjacent trilithons. We also see at least one monolith in there. But calling this a Stonehenge when you create a new kind of structure for it and when there is a large landscaped pond in the middle is colorado-gallery41stretching the term, we think.

Still, it is a nice construction, even though it is stranded in something that resembles a stone-age miniature golf course. We would be curious (as always) to know what inspired these builders to go for a henge replica.

Scoring–well, how many druids do you think would hang out here? On the other hand, Colorado druids may be a peculiar lot. We’ll give this Stonehenge replica 4 druids, and maybe an ice cream cone when the game’s over if you get your golf ball through the trilithon!

We may not post tomorrow, but we’ll see you next year. Happy New Year, gentle readers!

Guest Score from Simon Burrow: 7 druids. Thank you, Simon! Apparently, this one is all about being there.

Clay Henge (we hope!)

poop-henge1

photo by Jamie Rae Cline, with permission

So, when we look around for henges online, we see all kinds of things. Many we have yet to pass on to you because we’re waiting, perhaps in vain, for permissions for photos (Flickr allows you to reblog without permissions, but the resulting photos are small, and anyway part of the fun of doing this is communicating with hengers and henge photographers) and there are a few we simply do not plan to share.

Sometimes, as in this case, we’re not really sure what we’re looking at. The photographer says she thinks it’s made from clay, but something about it, maybe the moss, suggests that it was made or perhaps deposited by an unusually creative dog! Then again, perhaps it’s just powdered doughnut sticks–the things we used to call crullers. We may never know, but because the ick factor creates in us a morbid fascination, you get to see it–lucky you!

Ms. Cline tells us she saw it at Culver-Stockton College in the education department and that it was built by a student. We don’t know much more, and that may be all to the good. Nevertheless it stands as still another demonstration of the Clonehenge principle, that unfailing impulse to build henges from any material that comes to (gasp!) hand. Score: 3 druids, and all three are a little grossed out! There’s just something about that little pillar on the right . . .