UMR Stonehenge

I wonder how many people have driven by this megalith countless times as they are passing through Rolla on Route 63 and never noticed it. It's not surprising, I suppose, considering that whether the motorist is traveling north or south, frustration with traffic flow is off the charts at that particular bottleneck. Recent changes to the signals and thru-lanes have managed to make things even worse, but that's another subject.

The stonehenge on the campus of the University of Missouri - Rolla is a partial reconstruction of the one on the Salisbury Plain southwest of London. It was dedicated on June 20, 1984.

The stonehenge is basically an observatory and the celestial surveying was done by none other than UMR's Civil Engineering Department (deletion of "Environmental and Architectural" from the new department title is quite intentional thank you very much.) An interesting aspect is that the stone was cut using high-pressure water. No kidding...they cut the stone with water. You can read about it here,

http://web.umr.edu/~stonehen/

That's why the edges of the stone have a rather unique texture,

It's worth taking the time to see if you are in the neighborhood and have an interest in such things. You'll find it next to the highway between McNutt Hall and the observatory,

http://www.umr.edu/admin/images/map.jpg

Parking at the university can be a pain if you aren't used to it so you might want to park at Panera Bread and trot across 63 on foot. If you don't feel like playing Frogger in real life you can take your chances finding a visitor's slot open on one of the campus parking lots. When I have business with the school I generally park in one of the very convenient permit-only lots and throw away the ticket if I get one (what are they going to do, withold my grades?) I wouldn't necessarily recommend that practice to others though.

When I'm in Rolla I generally aim for Alex's for lunch. Give it a try!

http://www.alexspizza.com/