Carhenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge located near the city of Alliance, Nebraska, in the High Plains region of the United States. Instead of being built with large standing stones, as is the case with the original Stonehenge,[1] Carhenge is formed from vintage American automobiles, all covered with gray spray paint. Built by Jim Reinders, it was dedicated at the June 1987 summer solstice. In 2006, a visitor center was constructed to serve the site. Carhenge was featured in Pixar's Cars franchise spinoff webseries Cars on the Road.
Structure
Carhenge and Stonehenge
Carhenge consists of 39 automobiles arranged in a circle measuring about 96 feet (29 m) in diameter. Some are held upright in pits 5 feet (1.5 m) deep, trunk end down, and arches have been formed by welding automobiles atop the supporting models. The heelstone is a 1962 Cadillac.[2] Three cars were buried at Carhenge with a sign stating: "Here lie three bones of foreign cars. They served our purpose while Detroit slept. Now Detroit is awake and America's great!"[3]
Carhenge replicates Stonehenge's current dilapidated state, rather than the original stone circle erected between 2500 BC and 2000 BC.
In addition to the Stonehenge replica, the Carhenge site includes several other artworks created from autos covered with various colors of spray paint.
Cars
This table lists cars in Carhenge starting from the west entrance and proceeding left, or clockwise, around the outer ring of cars which represent the sarsen megalith circle of Stonehenge. The inner horseshoe of trilithons are also listed clockwise.[4]
Carhenge was conceived in 1987 by Jim Reinders as a memorial to his father. While living in England, he studied the structure of Stonehenge, which helped him to copy the structure's shape, proportions, and size. Other automobile sculptures were subsequently added to the location of Carhenge, which is now known as the Car Art Reserve.[2]
Reinders donated the 10-acre site to the Friends of Carhenge. In 2011, the Friends of Carhenge listed the attraction for sale for $300,000.[5] In 2013, the Friends of Carhenge donated the site to the Citizens of Alliance.[6]
The path of totality of the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 included Carhenge. An estimated 4,000 people, including Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts, viewed the eclipse from the site. Reinders stated that, at the time of Carhenge's creation, he had not known about the eclipse that would occur 30 years later.[8][9][10]
