Brownsville, Oregon: The Living Rock Studios – The Paths of Discovery

We’ve mentioned that geocaching takes us to really interesting places. We passed this interesting-looking building on the way to a cache and came back to it when we saw there was a cache located here. Yay!

Howard B. Taylor along with his wife Faye and daughters Nancy, Gail, and Penny built The Living Rock Studios as their “Standing Stones of Remembrance for all God has done”.

800 tons of stone were used in the building which has been opened since 1985.

This is the entry. The staircase on the other side of the wall is the center of the tree of life around which the building was built.

Supports for the staircase are the trunk of the tree and are made of petrified wood. Taylor called the staircase Jacob’s Ladder.

Branches reach to the ceiling which is draped in leafy fabric.

The tree canopy from below

Crystals and minerals were incorporated into the construction and are also on display.

Taylor collected and prepared rocks for, then designed and crafted a pictorial history of Bible events.

Moses and the Burning Bush. Taylor said the history of the Bible events were being recorded in the stones since creation and that the pieces were there to be discerned and fit together.

Some stones not used in the pictures were used in this wall, lit from behind.

Taylor carved each of these figures from separate pieces of wood native to Oregon.

Each of the figures has at least one moving part.

Taylor carved “The Pioneer Mother” from marble as a memorial to the pioneer women who walked 2,000 miles to Oregon while caring for their families on the trail and in the wilderness of Oregon.

Taylor also had a keen interest in birds and painted many pictures identifying them.

The hostess for our visit was Penny Taylor Mackey, the youngest Taylor daughter.

Penny remembers selecting rock slabs for her father to place in the floor when she was about seven years old.

Some rocks and minerals are displayed in glass jars built into the walls. Penny remembers how hard it was to clean the Tasters Choice coffee containers.

Penny created a shawl inspired by a walk through a grove of patriarchal maples in Olympic National Park.

This is Penny’s description: “Mosses draped the gnarled limbs like wooly sweaters and graceful flowing shawls. Rain drops glistened and twinkled in the sunshine like jeweled rainbows. In the quiet I could hear the trees moaning, groaning and whispering in the winds and their tears falling like gentle chimes of thankful remembrances and praise.”

Categories: Travel

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