Built by Sam Hill as a tribute to the soldiers of Klickitat County who lost their lives, Maryhill's Stonehenge is the first monument in our nation to honor the dead of World War I. The structure is a full-scale replica of England's famous neolithic Stonehenge. A Quaker pacifist, Hill was mistakenly informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site, and thus constructed the replica to remind us that ''humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war.'' The site now has a memorial nearby for Klickitat soldiers who lost their lives in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam.
On the inner pillars of the monument are plaques with the name, birth, and death of each of the soldiers. In the center of the monument is the marker shown above.
The monument is perched high above the Columbia River Gorge on a bluff surrounded by the sculptural hills ov the area. The view from the monument location is spectacular.
Sam Hill, the builder of the monument, was a wealthy entrepreneur who bought 6,000 acres of land overlooking the Columbia River with the intention of establishing a Quaker agricultural community. His mansion is now the Maryhill Museum of Art, filled with his collections of American and English art, and Rodin sculptures. For more information about Sam Hill, the monument, and the museum, go to www.maryhillmuseum.org
The monument can be found 4 miles east of the Maryhill Museum of Art, just off of Highway 14.