Bamahenge is a full-scale fiberglass replica of England's prehistoric

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...

monument, located on the grounds of Barber Marina near Josephine, Alabama. It was designed and built by artist Mark Cline, at the request of marina owner

George W. Barber George may refer to: Names * George (given name) * George (surname) People * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Papagheorghe, also known as Jorge / GEØRGE * George, stage name of Giorg ...

History

The idea for a

replica in

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

originated with billionaire dairy magnate

. In 1991, Barber had commissioned Virginia artist Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studios to design and install seven life-size dinosaurs as "lawn ornaments" on one of his properties. While Cline was onsite repairing hurricane damage to the sculptures in 2006, Barber, perhaps aware of the recent installation of Cline's

Foamhenge ''Foamhenge'' is a full-scale styrofoam replica of Stonehenge, which was originally located in Natural Bridge, Virginia. It was conceived and built by artist Mark Cline as a roadside attraction, and opened on April 1, 2004. In 2017, ''Foamhen ...

replica in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, asked him to build a life-size Stonehenge replica at his Vintage Motorsports Museum outside of

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

. By the time Cline was able to begin work on the project in 2012, Barber had relocated four of the dinosaurs to the grounds of Barber Marina and decided to instead install the Stonehenge replica on the marina grounds, in the woods to the north of the dinosaurs. The name Fiberhenge was briefly considered for the work, but Cline decided that it "didn't have the ring" he wanted and instead named the installation Bamahenge.

Structure

Bamahenge is a full-scale replica of Stonehenge, measuring tall and across. Like Stonehenge, the installation is oriented so that the sun rises over the center of three

lintels A lintel or lintol is a type of beam (a horizontal structural element) that spans openings such as portals, doors, windows and fireplaces. It can be a decorative architectural element, or a combined ornamented/structural item. In the case of ...

on the outer markers on the

summer solstice The summer solstice or estival solstice occurs when one of Earth's poles has its maximum tilt toward the Sun. It happens twice yearly, once in each hemisphere ( Northern and Southern). The summer solstice is the day with the longest peri ...

. Bamahenge is not an exact replica, however: the monument is constructed from only four different shapes of fiberglass "stones", oriented in different ways. The pieces were designed so that the smaller ones could nest inside the larger ones for transportation from Cline's Virginia studio to the Alabama coast, which required four flatbed tractor-trailer loads. Located only from the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

, Bamahenge is located in an active

tropical storm A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its lo ...

and

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its ...

zone. To protect the work from high winds, each "stone" is anchored by a wooden pole extending up into the "stone" and a similar distance underground. The lower portion of the "stone" and a pit beneath, surrounding the pole, are filled with concrete.

Access

Bamahenge is located west of the access road to Barber Marina. A small parking area sits at the head of the path to the monument. While most closely located to the unincorporated community of Josephine in

Baldwin County, Alabama Baldwin County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Alabama, on the Gulf coast. It is one of only two counties in Alabama that border the Gulf of Mexico, along with Mobile County. As of the 2020 census, the popul ...

, Bamahenge is more often associated with the larger nearby town of Elberta, Alabama.

References

External links

Barber Marina website
{{Stonehenge Replicas and derivatives of Stonehenge Landmarks in Alabama Outdoor sculptures in Alabama Buildings and structures in Baldwin County, Alabama Tourist attractions in Baldwin County, Alabama Fiberglass sculptures in the United States