Okay, I'm not sure when or where it started, but I believe I may have caught it from my mother--or possibly from the old Lucy movie titled the Long, Long Trailer (the scene in which Ricky was pulling a long travel trailer up a steep road with difficulty because it was hauling rocks Lucy had stashed in the trailer. If you watch that link the follow up to the scene is here). Not sure if collecting rocks is a trait, disease, or a normal human thing.
We have some rocks that have been collected over the years, and I have intentions (dreams) of us creating a beautiful serene water feature with frogs, and having a meandering rock pathway in our back yard.
We moved the rocks from our previous home and currently, the rocks are stacked carefully, awaiting the day they will be put into service.
We even have the rock that was in the middle of Hwy 22 and caused a flat tire during hunting season. It was Nicole and Abi's first lesson in changing a flat tire on the side of the road. As a souvenir, we threw the rock in the trunk.
Matt and I have also collected agates from the coast --those agates await a day to be polished in a rock tumbler.
Well, one of the ultimate rock collectors in Oregon actually put his rocks into service. We first learned about Howard Taylor from a book called Oregon Curiosities. Mr. Taylor was a surveyor. He collected rocks while he traveled all over Oregon. He ended up with tons and tons (800 tons is the estimate) of rocks, and in the 1960s he began building The Living Rock Museum at his home in Brownsville. The rocks are native to Oregon and include agates, thunder eggs, jasper, obsidian, petrified wood, and others.
The neat thing about this man is his dedication. He completed the museum in 1985 on his golden wedding anniversary. His museum includes other completed projects such as his carvings that are made from wood from every native tree in Oregon, his collection of Oregon native bird paintings, and a Oregon bird field guide book complete with data and hand painted pictures of each bird native to Oregon. If one is curious about the history of the logging industry in Oregon, a hand-made wood book detailing the history is also on display--so large it needs a custom turntable to "turn" the pages.
This piece of Oregon history and geology found in Brownsville is a real treasure. It is still privately owned by family members of Mr. Taylor, and tours are available. They provide you with flashlights to be able to see the detail of the rocks in the walls, ceiling and floors. Definitely a stop worth making if you find yourself on I-5 in the Corvallis/Eugene area.
As a child and a only a couple times since, we have also been to Petersens Rock Garden in Redmond, Oregon. It's quite fantastic and a much larger scale than The Living Rock Museum. But I find they both are equally awesome as a result of the dedication of the individuals who built them. We're overdue for a trip to Petersens!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment