Wisconsin Rocks

 

I'm in Minnesota for most of the summer and it occurred to me that although I travel far and wide in the United States, I very seldom visit places close to home. I thought to myself that perhaps I should do day trips every now and then and see what I can discover.

About two hours southeast of the Twin Cities is the small town of Fountain City, Wisconsin. Herman Rusch invested 25 years of his retirement from farming to create a bizarre museum. He decided the grounds looked a little barren, so he started creating sculptures out of rocks and concrete. He was self-taught in both art and masonry. The museum was eventually sold at auction, but the Prairie Moon Sculpture Garden remains. You can see that Herman had a certain style for his creations.

Ok - I don't usually feel the need to show pictures of outhouses that I encounter in my travels, but this outhouse at Prairie Moon was special.  Not only was it cute on the outside, they even had Bed and Bath products that you could use if you wanted.

A little further down the road is Kinstone. “This sacred space invites you to connect with and experience the power of the land and the stone to transform, energize and revive your body, mind and spirit”. Kristine Beck bought thirty acres of her family farm and created a magical space. You wander down mowed paths through reclaimed prairie and marvel at what she has created. To quote Atlas Obscura: “There are alignments for the cardinal directions, solstices and equinoxes. The sun is ushered into the center of the Great Stone Circle on Summer Solstice through the Summer Solstice Corridor. The Equinox sun rises through a window in the Three Witnesses Sculpture to highlight a natural heart in a standing stone. Winter solstice and Equinox sunsets have their own alignments. The Energy Stones stand on the true north line forming a link between the centers of the Great Stone Circle and the Labyrinth.”

I never thought of stones very much – but the stones in this place evoked many different emotions on my part, from tears to literally taking my breath away when I stood in the Great Stone Circle.

Venus - the tallest standing stone at Kinstone, 31.5' with 8' in the ground

Stones representing Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Mississippi River lying between them

The thatched roof structure is called the Chapel of Creation

In the front is the Eternal Flame which is a large piece of petrified wood. 

The Great Stone Circle
Photo Credit: Rick Swanson

The rising sun shines through this window on both spring and fall Equinox

This Dolman is consecrated to the remembrance of the ancestors and all those who have gone before us.

A seven circuit classic labyrinth