Sam Hill was born in 1857 in North Carolina. He eventually became a lawyer, railroad executive and businessman championing the building of roads in the Northwest. He also had a vision of developing a quaker farming community on the banks of the Columbia River in Washington State in an area he proclaimed as the “garden of Eden”. He also planned to live there himself and began construction on a concrete mansion.
left: Although beautiful, it does not strike me as a “Garden of Eden”.
The farming community never developed and he had some business failures which led him to continue his residence in Seattle leaving the mansion vacant on a cliff overlooking the Columbia River.
A friend of his, avant-gard dancer Loie Fuller, convinced him to turn the structure into a museum. The building was finally finished and opened 9 years after his death in 1940.
left: One of the sculptures in the “sculpter garden”.
I wanted to check the place out because it was an unusual museum in the middle of nowhere and the grounds also contained a replica of Stonehenge. Now, ‘ole Sam was a bit of a traveler and had connections everywhere and the result of this is a museum full of eclectic items one would never expect to see together.
right: The Lil’ Dude checks out a small version of Rodin’s “The Thinker”.
He became friends with the Queen of Romania and the first floor of the museum contains furniture from the royal family. His friend Loie Fuller was friends with the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin and as a result, the ground floor houses an impressive collection of Rodin statuary and drawings. The ground floor also contains a huge collection of native american art especially intricate basketry. Throw in some 19th century paintings and an amazing and fun collection of chess sets and it all makes for an interesting day.
The Dudes were evidently inspired by the Rodin exhibit since the Lil’ Dudes has said that he “wants to be a sculptor when he grows up” and the Big Dude created a foil sculptor to become part of the museum’s collection.
left: The Big Dude’s sculpture “Fallen Goodness”. (A person hangs sullenly over a dropped ice cream cone)
We went from the museum down the road to another one of Sam’s creations – Stonehenge. He had an exact replica made of the famous English neolithic structure as a war memorial to honor the men of Klickitat County who lost their lives in World War 1. It was interesting to see especially with a backdrop of wind turbines on the hill behind it.
As strange and interesting as his personal story is, Sam certainly left a legacy behind to inspire future generations. We had a great time, the Dudes now want to be sculptors and I finally got to see “Stonehenge” (even if it wasn’t the real one).
There is a dream built into this place,
a dream for today and tomorrow.
— Queen Marie of Romania, speaking at Maryhill’s dedication in 1926
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