Search  
Monday, December 01, 2008 ..:: Suburban Dad, Urban Attitude ::..   Login
 Mini Stonehenge Minimize
Location: BlogsPaleBlueScotSlices of Life    
Posted by: James 2/12/2008 3:06 PM

One of my favorite sites I read daily is a New Hampshire based blog called Atlantic Avenue.  Amy Kane is a terrific writer and a fantastic photographer to boot.  Something she posted last month forced me to take an actual camera picture instead of my cameraphone so I could show it.  Her husband is a pilot and he periodically takes shots of places he's been to overseas.  He got to see Stonehenge last month and the pictures reminded me of the time Megan and I went there 5 years ago. 

 

The more current memory it triggered was of a neighbor a few blocks away who placed a mini-Stonehenge display on their front lawn when this year's holiday season began.  I have yet to figure out if they put it up because they're pagans or it's simply homage to the famous scene in This Is Spinal Tap where, due to a lack of communication, an 18-inch-tall replica of Stonehenge appears on their stage instead of the 18-foot-tall version they thought they ordered. 

 

I initially took a cameraphone shot at night during my nightly walk but even though it was illuminated, it didn't come out clear.  They never took down the display after the holiday season so I took a photo of it in the daytime last week.  The stones are about 6 inches high and seem to be placed exactly how the real Stonehenge is set up.  I smile each time I pass by it.

 

stonehenge.JPG

 

 

Permalink |  Trackback

Comments (12)   Add Comment
Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Blaser on 2/12/2008 3:19 PM
Can you call that a front lawn?

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By James on 2/12/2008 3:20 PM
Yeah, it's one of the few on the street that's still rather ratty. The grass surrounding the real Stonehenge is beautiful.

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Amy on 2/12/2008 3:25 PM
Wow, Yardhenge! Rock on, James.

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By KB's on 2/12/2008 3:43 PM
I love when Southerners (or anyone) live up to their stereotype. Notice the car parked on the lawn.

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By James on 2/12/2008 3:49 PM
In their defense, the house is being renovated so I think they had to park there since it's a busy street that you can't park on and they had to make way for the construction vehicles (which is probably why the lawn is still in disarray too). But it is interesting to see "new south" houses next to "old south" houses in this area. I think I just found a new photo assignment for the blog with examples of both.

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Jason's Mom on 2/13/2008 1:28 PM
20 years ago when I visited the real Stonehenge I was disappointed that it was surrounded by a fence and we couldn't get inside. Seems that "vagrants" or "hippies" (according to the guide) were camping there and destroying the stones. Was it still fenced 5 years ago?

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By James on 2/13/2008 3:45 PM
It still is cordoned off although you can get relatively close to it. I'll try to dig up my pics tonight from that trip to see exactly how close we got to it. Seeing the symmetry of some of the stones even after all these years of erosion and pilfering is a testament to how exact this monument was. They had said in the tour that on the first day of spring (I believe) the sun casts a shadow that now is eight inches off the original demarcation point outside the main circle of stones. I guess after many calculations, it was determined that the earth has tilted that much off course since this edifice was built (at least according to my tour guide). Absolutely amazing story that I highly recommend everyone read about.

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Syl on 2/14/2008 12:46 AM
Recently wathced a very nice show on History channel about the grouping of pagan sites nearby - Woodhenge -timbers instead of stone - and some other place and the manufactured hill that (sorry for my ignorance on actual names) they speculated had served as a signal point to precisely and simultaneously begin rituals/festivals/celebrations together during ancient times. Then they proved you *could* see from all the sites, a 3'x4' waving-in-the-breeze flag that one historian held up . <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Cool also on that program, the great earthen castle with a door that was difficult to find amid misdirections of hills and various embankments...then came the Romans and their 'superior distances' weapons of war. Darn propulsion and machines...

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Meatball on 2/15/2008 11:42 AM
We travelled to Orkney's henge up in Scotland ... SO much better than Stonehenge ... you're usually the only tourist around for miles.<br><br>http://www.orkneypics.com/webpage/page/page058.html

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Muuurph on 2/15/2008 3:37 PM
Hey Syl: Do you remember the name of that program? Sounds interesting and I'd like to set Tivo to record it.

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Muuurph on 2/15/2008 3:39 PM
OK everyone make fun of the history geek now..

Re: Mini Stonehenge    By Syl on 2/17/2008 6:03 PM
Muuurrrph - If I'm not combining two different shows, I'd be surprised. But even if I did - one of them should be: Ancient Discoveries :Ancient Super Ballistics includes near the end the heyday/failure of that made-to-confuse pagan earthen castle.<br><br>Yet, on their featured video I'm not seeing the two...um...flag-waving historians so that may have been a different show about the signaling sites... Looking/searching for that now I think it was: Lost Worlds - The Pagans. "We then trace a forgotten ancient pathway to Stonehenge's lost twin--Woodhenge, explore the secrets of Silbury Hill, the world's largest man-made mound, . . ." that's the signaling one. <br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Myself, I love a history geek.


Your name:
Title:
Comment:
Add Comment   Cancel 

  

 Blog_List Minimize

      

 Blog_Archive Minimize

    

 Search_Blog Minimize

    

 Links Minimize

      

 Contact Me Minimize



Cancel   Send

    

Copyright 2008 by PaleBlueScot Productions   Terms Of Use  Privacy Statement
DotNetNuke® is copyright 2002-2008 by Perpetual Motion Interactive Systems Inc.