Back in August (the same day of the warehouse series) I photographed this scultpure at THE STONE MUSEUM in Monroe Township, NJ.
The land the Stone Museum is on houses 3 different venues: Stone Museum, Display World, and Greek’s Playland.
Their website describes the Stone Museum as:
The Stone Museum represents many things to many people, but it isn’t an easy place to define or pin down. As our name suggests, we are a museum of minerals and fossils with a host of indoor and outdoor displays that are “hands on”, enabling visitors of all ages to actually touch specimens from 80 countries. One of our most popular exhibits is the Fluorescent Room, where visitors witness a display of hundreds of rocks (most from the Garden State) that glow in a vibrant array of colors. Recently we have acquired a dinosaur egg from China as well as a leg bone from one of the largest carnivorous dinosaurs—the African Spinosaurus. Kids also love our “recycled dinosaur”, Monroe, a giant twenty-foot-tall reptile replica who roars with real ferocity.
And this is the same Monroe the Trackhoe-saurus the “recycled dinosaur” mentioned in the paragraph above.
I’ve gone to this place quite a few times in my life…mainly back in highschool because it was somewhere different to go with some sitting areas that had water features/fountains all around.
RoadsideAmerica.com mentions the sitting areas were part of the section called DISPLAY WORLD: Display World is a pleasant labyrinth of sheltered walkways, waterfalls, lakes, and Japanese-style bridges.
I can hardly describe this place though. As the paragraph from their website says…it’s a hard place to describe. They sell rocks and stones there but they have all of these sculptures and random different things on their large property (Fluorescent Rock Room, Rainbow Room, a 750-lb granite sphere rotates on a spout of water, “Cyclown,” the armless, World’s Tallest Clown, a driving range made of salvaged satellite dishes that mark the distance for golfers).
They say: Yet we are more than a user-friendly geology and natural history museum. We are also a showcase of “practical masonry,” with hundreds of full-size displays of all types of stone products used in building construction and landscape design set in a continuous wall around our man-made lake (there’s no guess work when you can see finished walls and walkways in “the outdoor showroom”). Our museum also depicts the tools and techniques used in past and present stonework. Many visitors have thanked us for helping them choose the right material for their project.
When my sister and I went with our cameras we didn’t get much due to the fact that part of it was closed off from a private party.
I did capture this purple sculpture, which I thought was pretty cool! It’s a scultpure made of used automobile parts into anatomically accurate dinosaur sculpture!
More detail about the dinosaur sculpture: The Stone Museum has created a memorial to the brilliant and acclaimed sculptor Jim Gary (1939-2006), whose “20th Century Dinosaurs” have been exhibited in museums around the nation and the world. Jim, a longtime friend of The Stone Museum, combined and crafted used automobile parts into anatomically accurate dinosaur sculptures, which are infused with a spirit of imaginative realism. Our exhibit focuses on the genius of his technique as well as the highlights of his storied career. Three Gary creations are on display as part of our permanent collection.
This place was also featured on Roadside America if you’d like to see some of the other “oddities” that you can find on the property: http://www.roadsideamerica.com/attract/NJMONgreek.html
These oddoties are the reason that I will re-visit the Stone Museum again once the weather is better!
Check this post again soon…I have some other shots to edit that I’ll add in from this place.
To view my gallery with other ROADSIDE ODDITIES (as I call them) click here: http://jenweaverphotography.smugmug.com/gallery/3188829/1/245605746
