Druids?  There are friends of mine who take their sleeping bags to the
replica of Stonehenge near Maryhill and celebrate the odd solstice there,
but they have never bragged of spilled blood.  A sign on the grounds of
the museum at Maryhill alert the passerby to rattlesnakes, but do not
give a recipe for preparing the meat gained therefrom.  There are peacocks
there and the staff have suggested, quietly, for some years now that it
would not break their hearts if there were one or two fewer birds about.
The range of art on view at Maryhill is impressive.  As noted, it
includes Rodin prints and Native American artifacts.  It also includes
medieval and renaissance art, and one of the largest collections of chess
sets in the world.  If you happen to be in the neighborhood, stop by and
take an hour or two to walk through.
Jack C. Thompson
Thompson Conservation Lab.
 
On Thu, 21 Apr 1994, Richard Engeman wrote:
 
> Sam Hill was perhaps a tycoon, and was certainly eccentric, but he was a
> financier, not a railroad builder.  He married Mary Hill, no relation of
> his, but the daughter of railroad tycoon James J. Hill.  Mary was not fond
> of the house Sam built on the desolate bluffs overlooking the Columbia
> River, and neither of them ever lived there.  Sam was pretty fascinating,
> but not to get into that, for we have the Druids to contend with...
>
> If there are large clans of Druids here, they are unknown to the public
> at large.  A colleague of mine, presented with this assertion, promptly
> constructed a tale of tree-hugging Druids as an offshoot of the
> environmental movement, but she snickered throughout the telling.  No, the
> Stonehenge replica (not quite full size) was built between 1918 and 1930
> by Sam as a memorial to the 13 men of Klickitat County, Washington, who
> died in World War I.  The story goes that, at the time that Hill began to
> build the replica, the belief was that the central altar stone at
> Stonehenge had been used for human sacrifices to insure victories in
> war.  Hill found it ironic that we still sacrificed to the gods of war.
>
> There are no clans of Druids skulking from tree to tree, but Maryhill is
> a fascinating roadside attraction... Robin is right about the exhibits,
> but it could be added that there is a large collection of Rodin sketches,
> the view is stunning, and the lovely peacocks on the grounds are said to
> keep the rattlesnake population down...
>
> Richard Engeman
> Photographs and Graphics Librarian
> Special Collections and Preservation Division
> Allen Library, FM-25
> University of Washington
> Seattle WA 98195
> 206-543-1929
> FAX 206-685-8049
>
> On Thu, 21 Apr 1994, Robbin Murphy wrote:
>
> > If I remember correctly Maryhill was built by railroad tycoon Sam
> > Hill for his bride who then left him (or died, possibly). There are
> > large clans of Druids in the Northwest, hence Stonehenge. The museum
> > also has early Native American artifacts as well as the personal
> > possessions of Queen Marie of Rumania (a friend of the founder).
> >
> > It's on U.S. 97 on State 14 near the Mighty Columbia River and
> > downwind from the Hanford Atomic Works.
> >
> > Robbin Murphy
> > [log in to unmask]
> >
>