The Petersen Rock Gardens in Redmond, Oregon, is a roadside attraction on the National Register of Historic Places. It is the creation of farmer and visionary Danish immigrant Rasmus Petersen, who settled here to farm in the early 1920s. By 1935, he had successfully cleared and irrigated 256 acres of land for grain and livestock, using equipment of the time— such as this logging wagon— and yielding a stockpile of rocks in the process. Though he typically worked 14-hour days, it seems he needed another side project, so he began building the Garden with meandering gravel pathways that lead to castles with moats, fountains, towers, bridges, and miniature models of famous buildings such as the Statue of Liberty. And people came!

DAVID'S WOOD WEEK
12.12.23