In February 2015 a ring of clear ice pillars appeared on frozen Rock Lake, near Lake Mills in Wisconsin. Five friends had cut the blocks from the lake itself with vintage ice saws and stacked them into a winter copy of Stonehenge. They called it Icehenge, and in the low afternoon sun it glowed amber.
Who built Icehenge on Rock Lake
The builders were Drew McHenry, Kevin Lehner, Quinn Williams, Alec Seamars and Patrick Shields. Their idea started about four years earlier, when they got hold of antique ice saws and wanted to experience what ice harvesting was like at the turn of the 20th century. In that first year they cut big blocks, some heavier than 400 pounds, and displayed them at a local business.
They soon learned to cut more uniform pieces and began stacking them. Their first attempt at a full henge, in the winter of 2014, failed because of persistent below-zero temperatures and very thick ice. In 2015, with near-perfect weather, they finished it in about two weekends near Bartel’s Beach, and passers-by stopped to ask questions and even offered to help.
How the ice monument was made
- Cutting: a large ice saw cut pillar sections from the lake of around 300 pounds (about 140 kg) each.
- Lintels: smaller blocks of about 200 pounds (90 kg) were lifted on top to bridge the uprights.
- Bonding: a slush of snow and water froze the pieces together.
Ice weighs roughly 66 pounds per cubic foot, so each block was a serious lift. The result is a circle of uprights and lintels with openings that frame the lake and the shoreline beyond.
From Stonehenge to Icehenge
The model is obvious. Stonehenge stands on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, and was built in phases between about 3100 and 1600 BC. Its great sarsen circle, raised around 2600–2400 BC, has uprights about 4 metres tall capped by a continuous ring of lintels, with five larger trilithons inside. It has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986.
Icehenge borrows that post-and-lintel idea but swaps stone for something transparent. Light passes straight through the blocks, so the monument changes colour with the sky.
A nod to the old ice-harvesting trade
The project grew out of a real American industry. The US ice trade began around 1800: in winter, crews cut ice from lakes and rivers with hand saws, later with powered blades, and hauled the blocks to insulated ice houses. Stored ice kept food cold through the summer in farms, homes and businesses with ice boxes. By the 1880s Americans were using more than 5 million tons of natural ice a year. Mechanical refrigeration ended the trade in the early 20th century, but the old saws still work, as Icehenge shows.
When to see ice at its best
Kevin Lehner told the Lake Mills Leader that the group came to appreciate the beauty of the ice “especially when the sun is to the west and at a low angle”. Late afternoon on a sunny day, seen from the shore or close up, was the best time. He also explained that the henge would stand only “as long as we have below freezing temperatures”: a sunny day above freezing with a moderate south wind melts it fast.
Before walking out to any lake sculpture, check local ice reports and stay with marked paths. For more ice you can walk through, explore the New Hampshire Ice Castles photographs, or see river ice photographed at sunset in Québec.
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