Stonehenge II
Encyclopedia
Replica
A replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...
of the original Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
monument, conceived by the late Al Shepperd and built with the help of his friend and neighbor, Hunt resident Doug Hill. It was originally located on FM 1340 west of Hunt, Texas
Hunt, Texas
Hunt is an unincorporated town in western Kerr County, Texas. It is located in the heart of the Texas hill country . The settlement was originally named Japonica; it was later changed to Hunt when Alva Joy purchased land in the area from Bob Hunt and established a US Post Office on the site...
, USA; grid reference 30°04.428′N 99°21.530′W. Stonehenge II is currently being reconstructed in front of the Point Theatre in Ingram, Texas (78028). The Hill Country Arts Foundation is running a Save Stonehenge II campaign to repair and rebuild the structure.
Most of the stones are constructed of plaster applied to a wire mesh frame. On the other hand, two of the central stones are real, large, and probably unmovable without heavy equipment.
There are also two imitation Moai
Moai
Moai , or mo‘ai, are monolithic human figures carved from rock on the Chilean Polynesian island of Easter Island between the years 1250 and 1500. Nearly half are still at Rano Raraku, the main moai quarry, but hundreds were transported from there and set on stone platforms called ahu around the...
, or Easter Island
Easter Island
Easter Island is a Polynesian island in the southeastern Pacific Ocean, at the southeasternmost point of the Polynesian triangle. A special territory of Chile that was annexed in 1888, Easter Island is famous for its 887 extant monumental statues, called moai, created by the early Rapanui people...
(Rapa Nui/Isla de Pascua) statues, at the same site. The imitation Moai are made of the same material as the Stonehenge II stones.
The site features now rarely seen large red harvester ant
Red harvester ant
The red harvester ant is a large ant common in the southwest United States.- Description :The main food source for red harvester ants usually consists of seeds, which they hoard in great numbers, hence their name.As with most ant species, their mating castes consist of winged alates that reside...
s. The mounds are easy to spot as the ants have cleared the vegetation in about a one meter diameter circle around them. The red ants, a primary source of food for the Texas Horned Lizard
Texas horned lizard
The Texas horned lizard is one of about 14 North American species of spikey-bodied reptiles called horned lizards. P. cornutum ranges from Colorado and Kansas to northern Mexico , and from southeastern Arizona to Texas. There are also isolated, introduced populations in the Carolinas, Georgia, and...
(or horny toad), have mostly disappeared because of the proliferation of fire ant
Fire ant
Fire ants are a variety of stinging ants with over 285 species worldwide. They have several common names, including ginger ants, tropical fire ants and red ants.- Appearance :...
s.
Relocation Effort
In the summer of 2010, Al Shepperd began searching for a new home for the replica after putting his land up for sale. The Hill Country Arts Foundation raised the necessary funds to relocate the statues to foundation property near the Pointe Theater in Ingram 30°04.3375′N 99°14.898′W. As of December 2010, the stones were all relocated to the new site, but not entirely reconstructed.In Popular Culture
Stonehenge II was featured as a backdrop for a scene in an early episode of the critically acclaimed NBCNBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
TV series Friday Night Lights
Friday Night Lights (season 1)
The first season of the American serial drama television series Friday Night Lights commenced airing in the United States and Canada on October 3, 2006 and concluded its 22-episode season on April 11, 2007...
(Episode 19: "Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes").