An Australian businessman is building a full-sized replica of Stonehenge in Australia. Ross Smith has had a team of quarry workers cutting replica stones for the past five months and plans to have the whole thing built by December 21 of this year - the summer solstice down under.
"I'm doing it because I can," said Ross Smith, the former owner of a successful microbrewery business who plans to build the monument on his property in Western Australia. "Nowhere in the world has a complete Stonehenge been built."
The $1.26 million project, to be called The Henge, will include 101 granite stones arranged in an inner and outer circle, a central altar, and will span 110 feet.
"I've studied plans of the original and that's what The Henge will look like," Smith said.
Unlike the original Stonehenge, guests will be encouraged to touch and play around the new monument, which will also have an interpretive center and a children's playground.
Smith called The Henge "a business venture." An entry fee will be charged and it will be hired out for weddings and other events.
Actually, I'm surprised nobody has done this before. (One waits breathlessly for the howls of outrage from fake druids over the fake Stonehenge.) Smith is hoping for 200,000 to 300,000 visitors annually. Hmmm. Maybe we should get one of these for the garden here at the Crabitat. Nah - too much to mow around.
http://bluecrabboulevard.com/2008/03/25/counterfeit-stonehenge/