North Carolina's own Stonehenge

..or Hartleyhenge, to be more exact.

First, let me just say this. I am a sucker for quirky off the beaten path touristy sorts of things. That led me to a couple things. One is the website Only in Your State and the app Roadside America. Through those I found that North Carolina has its very own Stonehenge! Now since I've always wanted to see the real Stonehenge, this stuck in my brain as one we definitely had to explore!

Hartleyhenge, North Carolina's stonehenge

I said in the Who We Are page that we'd tell you a bit of our story going along. Well, here is a bit of that. Our daughter woke up a week after her 18th birthday with sudden, complete hearing loss in her left ear. After several doctors visits and lots of tests, we were referred to UNC Chapel Hill for Cochlear Implant consultation. So we nervously make the 3 hour trip from where we live to Chapel Hill. We manage to get there much earlier than we expected which offered us some time to explore which I jumped on! The app was telling me we weren't far from NC's Stonehenge, Hartleyhenge!

Now Hartleyhenge is not on a main road, its an off the beaten path sort of thing, yet at the same time backs up to a neighborhood. Its off in a field and you have to park on the side of the road and walk to it. Fortunately, the ground is good and not too rocky or uneven. I made it mostly easily even in high 90's weather in July with my asthma not liking me much at the time.

Hartleyhenge has 4 large stone pillars representing the seasons which he corresponded with cardinal directions, each with a quote or poem representing each. The center is a stone with a quote corresponding with each pillar. Its a neat space to take a break and ponder the inscriptions on each.

Hartleyhenge was built by John Hartley who was an architect who designed several neighborhoods. It's not 100% for certain why Hartleyhenge was created but one author posits that it may be a gathering place or place of reflection that Hartley liked to incorporate into the design of his neighborhoods. Whatever the reason, Hartleyhenge is a nice little detour when you have a chance. Want to visit it for yourself? The address is 259 Johns Woods Rd in Calvander NC, which is only about 10 minutes northeast of Chapel Hill, NC