What the SAM HILL?! We went to Stonehenge! Well, sort of--but that didn't stop us from pranking friends and family into thinking we found a deal and took a weekend trip to Europe, hahah!
Down along the Columbia River....kind of in the middle of nowhere.....there is Stonehenge. A real, life-sized, full replica of the original Stonehenge. But we'll get to that.
Maryhill, Washington was the intended home of Sam Hill and his wife: Mary Hill. Sam Hill was a creative thinker who many thought was crazy. He was a huge advocate for building roads, as well as a lawyer and business man. Not only do we have him to thank for all his contributions to paved roads, but he also built the Peace Arch on the west border of Washington state and Canada.
Maryhill really is a bit in the middle of nowhere. Make sure you have a full gas tank and food as there are some stretches of nothing. We were traveling to see the Maryhill Museum of Art and later on visit Stonehenge. The Maryhill museum was originally the mansion Sam Hill built to live in with his wife. It was even dedicated by his good friend the Queen of Romania. However, when Mary came to see their new home she refused to live in the middle of nowhere and it became a museum.
****Maryhill Museum of Art is a seasonal museum....so be sure to check that it's open
The museum itself is quite lovely. We purchased our tickets a day or two in advance online. It's most definitely worth noting that their third-party online ticket master is pretty horrendous. It was confusing, slow, and hard to navigate. That being said, $12 a ticket and everything worked out.
We packed up the van and spent the night at a Walmart in Yakima (part of our reasoning for going on this particular trip this particular weekend was the much better weather in this part of the state). We left for Maryhill mid morning and drove the hour and half drive to the middle of nowhere.
When we got to the museum we found out that they were hosting a car show--which later really was in our favor. While it was crowded, we were able to park and still explore the grounds. We spent an hour or two exploring the museum.
The first room you enter has a large collection of gifts from the Queen of Romania. Tables, chairs, jewelry--all sorts of ornate pieces and replicas. There are a few small adjoining rooms, one with a video and introduction to Sam Hill and others with smaller pieces of artwork.
Downstairs, they have two large rooms of exhibits as well as pieces throughout the hallways. One of the main rooms has all sorts or statues of different mediums, the other has a large collection of Native American pieces. This was probably our favorite Native American exhibit we've seen. They had some truly unique pieces and stories. Definitely take a look at our videos to see a bit more of what I'm talking about!
On the lowest floor, they have a cafe (which is closed due to COVID) that looks like a truly lovely spot to have lunch. There is also a large collection of chess sets--it's a little random, but it's fun to look through. Our favorite chess sets were "travel" chess sets; large wood boxes of so many drawers and pockets for all the pieces.
The top floor of the museum host "Theater De La Mode", special exhibitions, and sometimes newer pieces. Theater De La Mode involves fashion on small mannequins, they have several displays--quite honestly we spent the least time on this floor and this exhibit, but we were still able to appreciate the intricacy of the pieces. The other exhibition was another fashion-based collection of historical pieces, again, we spent the least time on this floor but still were able to look around.
We did very much enjoy our time at the museum--but here are our overall thoughts:
I suppose we both envisioned this being a little more like Pittock Mansion in Portland Oregon; where we would get to see a little more of how this was originally built to be a house. This wasn't at all the case and while we enjoyed the museum it would've been fun to see original plans for the functionality as a home (it's a very unique building!).
With the cafe closed we were SO lucky that the car show happened to be going on while we were there. We were able to get lunch from the food trucks brought in--I don't know if we would've stayed as long as we did without that. Definitely have a food plan or lunch packed!
The grounds and building itself really was beautiful, we wish we had spent more time exploring and enjoying it all.
Now, to Stonehenge:
Just 3-4 miles away from the museum sits a complete replica of Stonehenge. A random pullout leads to the henge as well as to an RV park. The Stonehenge stands tall with the open sky backdrop as it overlooks the Columbia River, and it can be seen from the main road. It's a dusty gravel road and parking lot, but luckily there are a couple trees and a picnic bench or two.
This is a complete replica, so unlike the real Stonehenge all the bluestones, the heel stone, alter stone--everything is complete and in position as the original Stonehenge is believed to have been. Nothing falling over, missing, or chipped to pieces. It's life size and we filmed two different videos to help show the size relative to us (video listed at the bottom of post).
Sam Hill built this Stonehenge as a tribute to the 14 men of the county: James Henry Allyn, Charles Auer, Dewey V. Bromley, John W. Cheshier, William O. Clary, Evan Childs, James D. Duncan, Harry Gotfredson, Robert F. Graham, Louis Leidl, Carl A. Lester, Edward Lindblad, Henry O. Piendl and Robert F. Venable who died in WWI.
The altar stone was dedicated in 1918 and the memorial was completed and re-dedicated in 1929. Sam Hill died in 1931 and his ashes are in a crypt near the Stonehenge memorial; the crypt was replaced in 1955 by a granite monument due to the original crypt's decay.
It's also worth noting, that every year on the death of each of the honorees a small ceremony is held in their honor. Visitors are welcome to attend these ceremonies. Currently, the ceremonies are not taking place due to Covid, but I'm sure they will resume when possible. For more information on the dates and details of these ceremonies click here.
We imagine that on a normal day it's not too busy. As mentioned before with the car show just a few miles away and gorgeous weather, well, we assume we were there on a more popular day and time. While we didn't have it to ourselves we didn't have too much trouble having our own space and really enjoying it.
I personally love that it is a complete replica, making it different from the original. Being able to see the full setup is just so neat, especially if you're like us and love watching and have in the past watched documentaries, conspiracy theories and research done on Stonehenge. We can't wait to travel one day to the real Stonehenge to see how it has fallen and aged into what it is today!
Again, we feel like this was a fun little day trip--but nothing to travel to far to as a main destination. An afternoon stop along the way to somewhere else? Sure. Only a couple hours away from you and you need to get out? Go for it....but nothing much more than that. We really feel that our main video walkthrough (above) captures this space beautifully and hope you enjoy it!
Be sure to check out our Vlog and two travel diaries associated with this blog post!
Happy travels!
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