Detour Pit Stop #63: Carhenge, Nebraska
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When the ancient druids built the massive stone circle of Stonehenge on Salisbury Plain 5,000 years ago they probably didn’t envisage that an eccentric American artist would one day copy it using cars.
Of course said druids would probably never have imagined cars, or America either, but since those two things have become indelibly linked during the course of the 20th century the idea of Carhenge in Nebraska kind of makes sense.
Located just north of Alliance, on Highway 87 Carhenge replaces the sarsen stones with 39 grey-painted car and truck bodies positioned in a 96-feet diameter circle. The all-important “heel stone” is a 1962 Cadillac.
Carhenge was the brainchild of Jim Reinders, constructed as a memorial to his late father and was constructed with the help of 35 friends and family during the summer of 1987. A dedication ceremony was held, appropriately, on the summer solstice that year.
Since Carhenge’s assembly various other car artworks have been added to the area including the “Fourd Seasons” inspired by Vivaldi and built out of old Fords and time capsules (known as car-sules). A Pit Stop visitor centre was opened in 2007 and its estimated that over 100,00 people have come worship at the metallic monoliths over the years.
