Alliance | Discovering Carhenge
Recently, my husband and I decided to move full-time into a motorhome. We have too much wanderlust to stay in one place for long and this will enable us to travel on a whim. The reason I tell you this is that on our inaugural trip across the country after purchasing it, we came upon a little place in middle of nowhere, Nebraska. An icon that proves the anyone can have the passion for the unique that me and I’m sure anyone reading this blog has: Carhenge.
When researching places to stay the night we found this man-made wonder, we found mention of Carhenge when we saw a small RV site listed nearby. We drove off the main road and after a bit of driving and passing through the small town of Alliance, we were able to park and stay the night in Jeske’s Over the Hill Campground.
Now, I am not smart and didn’t get any photos of the campground. I was too distracted playing fetch with the owner’s sweet dog, but you can see it in the background of the below photo for reference to how close it is. The sites were very uneven and was a rugged setup, but for a one-night stay passing through just to get some rest and see Carhenge, its perfectly fine. It is not walking distance to Alliance though so if you visit bring a car or at least a bike to get there.
Now after we set up, we checked out what we came to see: Carhenge. It is truly incredible. Built by an artist that previously lived in England and became fascinated with the architecture of Stonehenge, he came back to his hometown where he and his family built this masterpiece. The full story is located at the website listed at the end of this post and I highly suggest giving it a read as it is so cool to me that someone’s family would help them with their passion building this masterpiece.
Carhenge is a visual replica of Stonehenge, as I am sure you have guessed by now, and is made up of 39 different automobiles. It is truly awesome to walk amongst and isn’t the only sculpture there. This spot has been designated the ‘Car Art Reserve’ and there are several other car sculptures in the vicinity.
It costs nothing to visit. We walked over right before sunset and wandered around for a good half hour. I will say there is quite a deal of graffiti on these vehicles which isn’t great, but I will admit some of it was fun to read. One of the stick figure graffiti (shown below) is a reference to ‘Steel Magnolias’ and I honestly just found that hilarious.
In summary, this is a really cool side trip if you are on a road trip and need a rest stop. There definitely isn’t enough to do in the immediate vicinity of Carhenge to warrant staying more than a night, but nevertheless I find it a worthwhile off-the-beaten-path visit. Especially it’s testament to what one family can accomplish when they support each other’s passions and dreams.
- Address – 2151 CR 59, Alliance, NE 69301
- Age – All Ages Welcome
- Length – Didn’t need longer than a half hour.
- Cost – Free
- Website – https://carhenge.com/
