Carhenge, Like Stonehenge, but Cars

 We are spending a few extra days in Nebraska on our way home. The reason is geocaching, of course! And once again, we happened upon a most interesting location. Carhenge. 

I had to buy a Nebraska map at a truck stop. The Visitors Centers along Interstate are closed, so no free state maps. The Visitor Center in Ogallala was also closed. We had a geocaching plan involving 13 counties and lots of miles, but since both of us are visual, we prefer a large paper map to mark our routes. The truck stop map had locations of interest on it and Carhenge was on our route for the day.

I had heard of it through the geocaching website, but other than hearing about it, I knew very little. As we were driving through the northern panhandle counties I did see a bill board, but again, other than seeing it, I had no idea.

"Carhenge is a replica of Stonehenge, England's ancient alignment of stones that chart the phases of the sun and moon. Created from Vintage automobiles, the dimensions of Carhenge replicate Stonehenge. The cars are primarily from 1950s and 1960s. They are planted trunk down and rise 15 to 17 feet. The cars are approximately 7 feet wide; the same size as the standing stones of Stonehenge." ~ brochure

WHY? Creator Jim Reinders says, "Why Not?"

Jim spent 7 years as an engineer in England. When he returned home to Alliance, Nebraska he brought with him a grand idea to recreate Stonehenge, but to do so using materials readily available. Old cars. The cars are of similar shape and size as the Stonehenge stones, and the wheels would provide stability to the structure.

The original 25 cars were erected (see above photos) during a Reinders family reunion in six days and dedicated on the Summer Solstice June 21, 1987. "We were able to reduce the time of the original Stonehenge construction by 9,999 years and 51 weeks."~ signage

More history can be found at this website: History - Carhenge

all 38 of the major stones at Stonehenge are cleverly represented

Carhenge gets painted every so many years. I did not see any graffiti on any of the gray painted cars.

The 10 acres also features a number of sculpture pieces made entirely of cars and or car parts.

dino built by Merle Stone of Hemingford

Benches created from pick-up/truck tail gates and wheel rims.

Car-nestoga by David Kowalski created as a tribute to the pioneers crossing the plains on the Oregon Trail in wagons.

The three bells, built by Leonard Reinders, representing the three Reinders siblings (Phyllis, Leonard, Jim).

The autograph car is on the left of the photo. Jim Reinders created The Four Seasons to the right of the autograph car. The yellow represents fields of wheat in summer and fall; the green referring to planting in the spring, and the whites representing the wind swept, snowy plains of winter. The Four Seasons are all Fords.

Hubby is autographing the car with his geocaching name. This was one of two geocaches at this location. For the geocachers reading the blog: GCGN58

There is a gift shop and campground on site. The gift shop was not open, but we stopped at the museum in Alliance and found some souvenirs of Carhenge.

You can compare our visit to Stonehenge England here.

We have been to two other car sculptures because of geocaching:

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo TX

World's Largest National Junk Car Forest in Goldfield NV