What began as one man’s flight of fancy over the years has metamorphosed into a full-fledged rock fantasy. Petersen, a Danish immigrant farmer, created four acres of intricately detailed miniature castles, towers, and bridges made of agate, jasper, obsidian, malachite, petrified wood, and thunder eggs. There are also the Statue of Liberty, the American flag, and many other compositions hewn out of natural rock.
There is a funky museum and gift shop in the rear of the complex featuring a jumbled collection of many types of rocks, crystals, fossils, and semiprecious gemstones. In the back of the museum is the Fluorescent Room, where little castles made of zinc, tungsten, uranium, and manganese glow in the dark. Free-roaming peacocks strike poses in front of the sculptures.
The staff will help direct rock hounds to promising sites in the vicinity to further their own collections.
To get to Petersen’s Rock Garden’s (7930 SW 77th St., 541/382-5574, 9 a.m.–dusk daily winter, 9 a.m.–7 p.m. daily other seasons, $3 adults, $1.50 children), the rock garden to end all rock gardens, take Gift Road off of U.S. 97 seven miles south of Redmond [1] and 10 miles north of Bend [2]. Follow the signs; it’s only 3 miles off the highway.
Links:
[1] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/central-oregon/redmond
[2] http://www.moon.com/destinations/oregon/central-oregon/bend