A452, Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska, USA, central cars, 2016

Carhenge is a replica of England's

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

located near the city of

Alliance, Nebraska Alliance is a city and the county seat of Box Butte County, in the western part of the state of Nebraska, in the Great Plains region of the United States. Its population was 8,151 at the 2020 census. Alliance is the home to Carhenge, a replica o ...

, in the

High Plains High Plains refers to one of two distinct land regions: * High Plains (United States), land region of the western Great Plains *High Plains (Australia) The High Plains of south-eastern Australia are a sub-region, or more strictly a string of adja ...

region of the United States. Instead of being built with large

standing stone A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright rock (geology), stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. T ...

s, as is the case with the original Stonehenge, Carhenge is formed from vintage American

automobile A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with Wheel, wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, Car seat, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport private transport#Personal transport, pe ...

s, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer

solstice A solstice is an event that occurs when the Sun appears to reach its most northerly or southerly excursion relative to the celestial equator on the celestial sphere. Two solstices occur annually, around June 21 and December 21. In many countr ...

. In 2006, a

visitor center A visitor center or centre (see American and British English spelling differences), visitor information center, tourist information center, is a physical location that provides tourist information to visitors. Types of visitor center A visit ...

was constructed to serve the site.

Structure

Carhenge consists of 39 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about in diameter. Some are held upright in pits deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. The

heelstone The Heel Stone is a single large block of sarsen stone standing within the Avenue outside the entrance of the Stonehenge earthwork in Wiltshire, England. In section it is sub-rectangular, with a minimum thickness of , rising to a tapered top a ...

is a 1962

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

. Three cars were buried at Carhenge with a sign stating: "Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America's great!" Carhenge replicates Stonehenge's current dilapidated state, rather than the original stone circle erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC. In addition to the Stonehenge replica, the Carhenge site includes several other artworks created from autos covered with various colors of spray paint.

History

A451, Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska, USA, The Fourd Seasons, 2016

Carhenge was conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father. While living in England, he studied the structure of Stonehenge, which helped him to copy the structures shape, proportions, and size. Other automobile sculptures were subsequently added to the location of Carhenge, which is now known as the Car Art Reserve. Reinders donated the 10-acre site to the Friends of Carhenge. In 2011 the Friends of Carhenge listed the attraction for sale for $300,000. In 2013 the Friends of Carhenge donated the site to the Citizens of Alliance. Carhenge has appeared in film, popular music, television programs and commercials. It is the subject of the 2005 documentary ''Carhenge: Genius or Junk?'' and features in the 2007

travel book The genre of travel literature encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. One early travel memoirist in Western literature was Pausanias (geographer), Pausanias, a Greek geographer of the 2nd century CE. In ...

1,000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die ''1,000 Places to See in the US and Canada Before You Die'' ({{ISBN, 0761147381, 2007) is a book written by Patricia Schultz as a follow up book to ''1,000 Places to See Before You Die''. The listing below is divided into sections like the book ...

''. The path of totality of the

solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 The solar eclipse of August 21, 2017, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by the media, was a total solar eclipse visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from the Pacific to the Atlantic coasts. It was also visible as a ...

included Carhenge. An estimated 4,000 people, including Nebraska governor

Pete Ricketts John Peter Ricketts (born August 19, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. He is also, with oth ...

, viewed the eclipse from the site. Reinders stated that at the time of Carhenge's creation, he had not known about the eclipse that would occur 30 years later.Pluhacek, Zach
"Carhenge creator watches once-in-lifetime event near one-of-a-kind creation".
''

Lincoln Journal Star The ''Lincoln Journal Star'' is an American daily newspaper that serves Lincoln, Nebraska, the state capital and home of the University of Nebraska. It is the most widely read newspaper in Lincoln and has the second-largest circulation in N ...

'' August 21, 2017. Retrieved November 6, 2017.

References

External links

Official site
* ,

Nebraska State Historical Society History Nebraska, formerly the Nebraska State Historical Society is a Nebraska state agency, founded in 1878 to "encourage historical research and inquiry, spread historical information ... and to embrace alike aboriginal and modern history." I ...

* {{Authority control Outdoor sculptures in Nebraska Roadside attractions in Nebraska 1987 sculptures Buildings and structures in Box Butte County, Nebraska Stonehenge replicas and derivatives Tourist attractions in Box Butte County, Nebraska 1987 establishments in Nebraska

Structure

History

See also

References

External links