The Real Oregon

Rasmus Petersen, a Dane who came to Oregon in 1900 and died here in 1952, loved rocks. To see what he managed to do with them as an artistic medium, you need to travel pretty much to the middle of nowhere — OK, a few miles outside of Redmond, Oregon — and drop in on Petersen Rock Garden, the delightful folly that Rasmus built.

Petersen’s four-acre home is run as something between an informal public park and a very low-key tourist attraction. There’s no one selling admission tickets; drop $3 a head in the box by the gift shop to cover the family’s costs.

Then wander, amid a handful of peacocks, around the incredibly weird estate, decorated with Rasmus’ strange houses, castles, and even a replica (apparently not by Rasmus himself) of the Statue of Liberty.

Almost anywhere else in the world this would be considered valuable folk art and protected; here it’s just part of the community. A must-see for anyone within 100 miles. Or more.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 25th, 2007 at 7:51 am and is filed under Best places to go, Best things to do, Eastern Oregon, High culture, Kitsch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.