A unique rock museum
My husband and took the kids to visit the Living Rock Museum not long ago. It was really interesting. We were the only ones there, so we got special attention from the proprietor. Her father built the museum and all the pieces in it by hand, so she took a lot of pride in showing us around. The museum features rocks, art, postcards, photographs, history, and displays. Be sure to look through the holes at the lighted stone pictures. To keep the kids busy, she challenged them to find hidden numbers, located at various location throughout the museum. They liked that they could run up and down the ramp to the second floor. When we were there, they were also building on a sunroom, and the proprietor showed around the garden. It was a nice laid back, free, and friendly trip back in time. They support themselves with donations, so feel free to drop some change in the bucket.
Keywords: Free, Just you alone / As a single, Historic Site, Interesting, All year, Museum (Art), Historic, Everyone, With a group, Art Gallery, With kids, As a couple, Easy to reach
There is just nothing to compare to the Living Rock Studio - it is a true work of love, built by a family over 25 years. From the outside, you might think it is a quick stop, in and out. After all, what could there be to see? A whole lot, it turns out! there is some fantasic history to be seen, the family (Taylor) who built it came by wagon train to Oregon and have family items from that trip, as well as donations from others. The building itself is fantastic - built from concrete with a lifetime collection of rocks (Mr Taylor was a surveyor, so saw lots of different types), in the form of a tree. It has a circular stair, some fabulous intarsia pictures, examples of crystals and local rock forms. There is a unique collection of wood carvings - 100, from each of the 100 woods of Oregon - and a collection of wildlife paintings, with several where the birds are life sized. If you are at all interested in Oregon history, Brownsville is a wonderful stop, with the Living Rock Studio well worth the hours or so you can spend there!
Keywords: Scenic, Free, Historic Site, Interesting, All year, Historic, Museum (History), Everyone, Easy to reach, Other things to see, Architecture