Carhenge: The Plains Stonehenge

Just north of Alliance on Highway Eighty-Seven, nearly forty American automobiles, most of them from the nineteen fifties and sixties, stand in a circle on the Nebraska prairie, all painted gray. Jim Reinders, an engineer who had lived in England and studied the design of the original Stonehenge, built this replica in the summer of nineteen eighty-seven as a memorial to his father, Herman Reinders, who had farmed this land. The family assembled for a reunion, completed the installation in time for the summer solstice, and celebrated with songs and a play Jim had written.

The cars are buried trunk-down in five-foot pits, others balanced and welded on top to create the linteled arches. The diameter matches Stonehenge's to scale. The state of Nebraska initially wanted it torn down, but locals rallied, the Friends of Carhenge took ownership, and it has since become one of the most-visited roadside attractions on the Great Plains.