in my entry on cement stamps I said I wouldn’t recommend stonehenge but would recommend the museum,
I think the group would give the opposing take (wouldn’t recommend the musuem but would recommend stonehenge)
I did develop a new fascination with it,
(aside from acknowleding that is a local world war I veterns memorial)
I’ve been viewing it as a sort of concrete oblisk--a monument in praise concrete.
I think this feeling was emphasized to me when we couldn’t find a trash can anywhere around it...
this notion of permanance and what we are creating and leaving behind.
a space to reflect on concrete and interact with it in a new way.
what also furthered this was when I started to connect it all to sam hill, who seems to have his grave down the hill from stonehenge (which was “built”/financed by him)
sam hill adds a lot to my city ecology historical research,
his biggest impact was advocating for paved roadways.
his lobbying and landownership lead to;
the first macadam road in the pacific northwest
the creation of washington state department of transportation
he also convinced the state to use prison-labor (slavery) for the road construction,
though I can’t imagine that it took convincing
I’m kicking myself for doing most of my research after I got back to portland,
turns out he built a road that tested out 7 different paving techniques to find what would work best,
but I’ll go back one day, maybe for a downhill skateboarding competion,
the world series used to be held here, some refer to it as the most famous road for skateboarding
this road actually became the model for the columbia gorge historic highway (which I would recommend to those visiting the portland and want to experience the gorge in a way that is slower than i-84 but faster than... walking)
it’s unfornaute how some views are best from a car
back to this feeling of a monument to concrete,
I noticed in my little hike around sam hill’s grave, that there might have been a larger graveyard there. though the rebar makes me think it could be the ruins of something else
a gravesite for concrete
sidenote: my new point and shoot broke so back to iphone photography
also this was my first time being east of the cascades not during a bright summer day
built by sam hill as a mansion and before finishing it decided it would be a museum
(convinced by some of his friends/musuem patrons)
I’m not naming all the names here because I don’t really care to honor rich people,
I’ll name them when it’s more relevant to further research
from the beggining this building had ties to aristocracy as it was meant to enterain the king of belgium, and then later gained the queen of romania as a patron
which all makes me think of how art has been historically funded
as well as notions of legacy and dynasty
here’s some more photos from my trip (maryhill and the dalles), because why not 1/3 of the purpose for this blog is my photography... even when it doesn’t obviously relate to city ecology the way broken concrete in grass does... holes, paths, rocks...
some okay some not