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]
>