Behind every good deed there’s a person. In a lot of cases — it may not be a very good person. Dewitt Boyd deems himself “a kind of a scoundrel”. He’s also a father of eight, and a member of Seventh-Day Adventist church. Yet, it’s the Rock Garden, an over-grown “Town Game” for his kids that keeps him, per his own admission, “out of trouble”.
The Rock Garden, in its current form, is an art project without being officially called that. It’s just that every time Boyd’s family moved, they’ve recreated their Town Game, each child, grandchild, and Dewitt Boyd himself choosing an alter-ego character and building a castle for that character. The current evolution began in 2007. Eventually, it became a local, and then, a national attraction, where hundreds of visitors come to every day.
Initially, the town structures were built from clay but they would break into shards when they froze in the winter cold. So, after moving south, Boyd developed his current method of using cement reinforced with wire to build structures with pebbles, shells, tiles, broken glass, etc. This makes castle-building slow and labor-heavy. Wikipedia cites that Notre Dame Cathedral took 27 months to build.
The entry is free, there’s a number of castles, structures, and buildings in the garden that visitors can, well, visit, using narrow pathways between them. There’s also a structure with a metal arch used for weddings. Built by many volunteers, the structures differ in sophistication and level of details.
The garden is located behind the church, near stream, making some views truly picturesque. In fall, the Rock Garden hosts an annual lighting ceremony, mostly for kids. Castles are lit by candles, creating truly magical experience. There’s also live music — violin and flute — and occasionally light refreshments.
