Two neighbors built a Stonehenge in Texas Hill Country and anyone can walk through it free

It started with a leftover slab of limestone

Deep in the Texas Hill Country, two neighbors turned a scrap of patio limestone into one of the most talked-about roadside stops in the state.

The whole thing sits on the banks of the Guadalupe River in Ingram, draws visitors from around the world, and costs you nothing to see.

And once you walk among the stones, the Easter Island heads staring back at you will make you wonder how this place even exists.

A patio slab that turned into a stone circle

In 1989, Doug Hill gave his neighbor Al Shepperd a leftover limestone slab from a patio project in Hunt, Texas.

Shepperd stood it upright in his field near the Guadalupe River, and that single stone started something. Within nine months, the two men had built a full circle.

The finished structure runs roughly two-thirds the size of the original Stonehenge in England, rising from a Texas pasture like it had always been there.

Plaster, wire mesh and two real limestone slabs

Shepperd was a retired Dallas hotel owner who had settled into Hill Country life. Hill was the one who did the hands-on building.

Most of the stones are plaster over wire mesh frames, painted and anchored with cement to pass for real rock.

Two of the central stones, though, are actual limestone, heavy enough that moving them took equipment. Shepperd put one firm limit on the whole project: no stone could stand taller than 13 feet.

Two Easter Island heads joined the party

Shepperd wasn’t finished after the stone circle went up.

He added two 13-foot replicas of Easter Island Moai, built from the same plaster-and-wire-mesh method as the rest of the stones.

They stand near the circle now, watching. Worth knowing: the real Moai on Easter Island are actually full-body figures with most of the body buried underground.

The ones in Ingram are heads only, but they sell the scene. The whole site starts to feel less like Texas and more like somewhere else entirely.

The community stepped in to save the stones

Shepperd died in 1994, and his family scattered some of his ashes around the stone circle. The property stayed with his heirs for years until 2010, when they decided to sell the land.

They worried no buyer would keep the monument.

The Hill Country Arts Foundation launched a campaign and raised tens of thousands of dollars to move the entire installation rather than let it disappear.

Without that effort, the stones would be gone.

Seven miles and nestled near the Guadalupe River

In late 2010, workers moved the stones and Moai piece by piece from Hunt to the HCAF campus in Ingram, about seven miles away.

By 2011 the stones were on the new site, and within a couple of years the full reconstruction was complete.

The new location sits beside the Guadalupe River on the foundation’s grounds. Since the move, the site has been open from dawn to dusk every day, free of charge.

Walk right up and touch the stones

The circle stands in an open grassy field with no fences, no barriers and no admission booth. You can walk straight in, run your hand along the stones, and stand in the middle of the circle looking up.

The two Moai loom nearby. A sign near the entrance explains that this isn’t a precise replica and isn’t aligned to the sun like the original.

There’s a picnic table under a shady tree if you want to sit and take it in for a while.

The Guadalupe River runs right past your feet

The Guadalupe flows along the HCAF campus, and you can get in it. Tubing, kayaking, swimming and fishing all happen here.

The river holds several species of bass and catfish, and sections downstream get stocked with trout during winter months.

A short drive away, Schumacher Crossing puts you in front of a cascade of small waterfalls framed by cypress trees that rise straight from the water.

It’s the kind of stop that keeps you there longer than you planned.

Slide down the Ingram Dam into the river

The Ingram Dam went up in the 1930s on the Guadalupe River.

Over decades, algae coated the concrete surface until the whole face of the dam became a natural water slide.

Locals figured this out a long time ago, and the tradition passed down through generations. You grab an inner tube, point yourself at the river below and go.

There’s no fee to access the dam area, and on a hot Hill Country afternoon, the line is short and the payoff is immediate.

Half a mile of history on the Old Ingram Loop

The Old Ingram Loop runs half a mile along a road that once served as a stagecoach stop in the Old West.

Today the stretch holds art studios, antique shops, boutiques and galleries inside buildings with stone and wood facades, many standing for over a century.

A major flood in 1932 pushed much of downtown Ingram to higher ground, but the Loop’s historic buildings held.

You can walk the whole thing in 20 minutes, though the shops will probably slow you down.

Hill Country parks worth the drive

Kerrville-Schreiner Park sits close by with more than 500 acres and over 10 miles of hiking and biking trails along the Guadalupe.

About 40 minutes out, Lost Maples State Natural Area draws crowds every fall for the Bigtooth Maple foliage, one of the few places in Texas where the leaves actually turn.

Enchanted Rock State Natural Area puts you on a massive pink granite dome with trails and open views in every direction. Garner State Park on the Frio River rounds out the region with swimming, hiking and camping.

Visit Stonehenge II at the HCAF campus in Ingram

You’ll find Stonehenge II at 120 Point Theatre Road South on the Hill Country Arts Foundation campus in Ingram, Texas.

Admission is free, and the site is open daily from dawn to dusk.

The drive puts you about 90 minutes northwest of San Antonio and 15 minutes west of Kerrville. Before you head out, check the official website for festival dates and gallery hours.

A gift shop sits on the campus if you want to take something home from one of Texas’s stranger afternoons.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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