Ever wonder where that granite countertop came from?

It might be Elberton, Georgia, the self-proclaimed "Granite Capital of the World." I'm not sure if it's more or less famous than the Georgia Guidestones, but you pretty much have to go through it to get to them.

It is a pretty little country town, with just about anything you can think of made out of granite, including the high school football stadium (The Granite Bowl) which remind me of the Greek and Roman ampitheaters of Italy with its stone seating. There are over forty quarries and 150 finishing plants in this little town of under 5,000 people.

It has a lovely town square with the obligatory Confederate soldier monument. The original one, though, had been torn down and buried because the sculptor unknowingly put a Union uniform on it! In fact, it was the commissioning of this very first dubious sculpture that began the quarrying of granite in Elberton in 1898.

There is a granite museum, but, unfortunately, it was not open the day we were there, much to our disappointment. We only got to see a few items on the outside. I was amused by the frequent appearance of the name Oglesby, which also happens to be the town I grew up in in Illinois. Apparently, this was a family name of some influential quarry owners in Elberton as well as a governor of Illinois.

The Top Dawg, "Best Hot Dog Around The Rock Pile," where we wanted to eat lunch, was also closed. It seemed a lot was closed, maybe because it was Labor Day weekend (but it was Saturday!)? We also were unsuccesful in finding even ONE quarry! With forty around, you'd think . . . and we even asked. We did find this Lucy & Desi tombstone, though, made of Elberton granite!

Elbert County "Stonehenge"

You see the strangest things in the middle of nowhere.

Recently, I met my daughter Shana in Elberton, Georgia, to see the famed Georgia Guidestones, or so-called "Stonehenge" of Elbert County. It was equidistant from Augusta and Atlanta, so a perfect place for an American outing.

The Guidestones, it turns out, are quite controversial. Located in the middle of farmfield, seven miles north of town, they consist of five 16-foot upright granite slabs, one in the middle (20,957 lbs.) and four radiating like spokes (42,437 lbs. each), and a capstone. They are arranged in a circle, like Stonehenge. Different slots and holes in the stones mark various celestial events like solstices and so on.

Unlike Stonehenge, however, the four upright spoke-slabs, "Guides to the Age of Reason," are etched in four-inch letters in English, Spanish, Russian, Hebrew, Hindi, Chinese, and Swahili with ten messages to guide mankind, like "Balance personal rights and social duties," "Prize truth, beauty, love, seeking harmony with the infinite," "Be not a cancer on the earth, leave room for nature," and "Let all nations rule internally, resolving external disputes in a world court." You can see them all HERE.

The capstone says, "Let these be Guidestones to an Age of Reason" in Egyptian hieroglyphics, Sanskrit, Babylonian cuneiform, and classical Greek. Hmmm.

Unlike Stonehenge, also, these are not at all old. They were dedicated in 1980. An anonymous person, calling him/herself R.C. Christian, commissioned them to be built here, close to the Granite Capital of the World, Elberton, and at the highest point in the county. No one has been able to discover the builder(s) of the Guidestones.

Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of vandalism/graffitti on the stones. Most of it seems to be done by Christians calling for God to destroy the monument, some by other calling for the destruction of the Christians. And the English slab has some brown sticky stuff thrown all over it. Too bad. This reminds me of the Egyptian temples, like Karnak, with the huge carven pillars. There, too, Christians had defaced the monuments by destroying the faces, feet, and hands of the figures. Some things never change.