Stonehenge - Maryhill, Washington
Posted by: 
Hikenutty
N 45° 41.663 W 120° 48.358
10T E 670821 N 5062433
This Stonehenge replica is the nation's 1st WW1 Memorial. It was built in 1918 by Sam Hill to memorialize the 17 young soldiers in rural Klickitat County, WA who lost their lives.
Waymark Code: WM1GCF
Location: Washington, United States
Date Posted: 05/03/2007
Views: 35
Excerpt from
Washington: Guide to the Evergreen State, 1941.
At 137.4 m., on a windswept promontory at the brink of the Columbia River, is STONEHENGE, modelled after the celebrated ruins in Wiltshire, England. It consists of a circular group of concrete slabs supported on pillars, which enclose five immense arches and a single horizontal slab. A bronze plaque, inlaid in this slab, dedicates the monument to the "Memory of the soldiers and sailors of Klickitat County who gave their lives in defense of their country."
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 site now also 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 in the gallery.
The monument is perched high above the Columbia River Gorge on a bluff surrounded by the sculptural hills of the area. The view from the monument location is absolutely 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. There is no charge to visit. Open for viewing during daylight hours, 7 days a week.