Visit or volunteer

Petersen Rock Garden and Museum is open daily, starting at 9 a.m., year-round. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Suggested donations for visitors are $5 for adults, $3 for seniors, $2 for kids or $10 per family. For more information about visiting or volunteering at the rock garden call 541-382-5574.

Long a roadside attraction, Petersen Rock Garden and Museum between Bend and Redmond is now also on the National Register of Historic Places.

“It’s one of a kind,” said Susan Caward, 49, owner of the rock garden and granddaughter of its creator.

Rasmus Petersen built the rock garden, 7930 S.W. 77th St., over the course of 17 years, starting when he retired from farming in 1935 until he died in 1952 at age 79. Using lava and river rocks gathered from around Central Oregon, as well as other rocks from around the country, Petersen crafted sculptures and vignettes. His creations include a miniature Statue of Liberty, castles and bridges. He also had peacocks at the rock garden and about 30 of the birds still roam the property.

The National Park Service added the rock garden to the National Register of Historic Places late last month, according to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Friday.

“It has been an icon through the years in Central Oregon,” said Deschutes County Commission Chairman Alan Unger. Now 63, Unger said he remembers visiting the rock garden as a boy. It was a place that a kid would look at in awe.

Open to visitors since the beginning, thousands had stopped at the rock garden by the time Petersen died 51 years ago.

The popularity of the place continued through the 1960s and ’70s, but has waned in the years since, said Kelly Cannon-Miller, executive director of the Deschutes County Historical Society. In 2011 the Historic Preservation League of Oregon named the rock garden as one of Oregon’s Most Endangered Places, in danger of disappearing. Cannon-Miller said some people don’t realize it still exists.

“It is really the only kind of high-level roadside attraction that this area has left from that era,” she said.

The state of the rock garden in recent years may have fed the perception that it was closed. Clutter accumulated around the 4-acre gardens, museum and former cafe; some of the sculptures fell into disrepair.

“It got away from us, so now we are trying to get caught up again,” Caward said.

Normally open year-round, the rock garden closed last winter so volunteers could help spruce the place up. It reopened on Memorial Day weekend but the clean-up and repairs continue.

“We are still working,” Caward said. “It’s an ongoing job.”

Former Redmond city councilman Jack Nelson, 77, and his wife, Carol Nelson, 70, have been among the volunteers. They’ve been out there cutting brush, digging weeds and cleaning up.

“We are really interested that Petersen Rock Garden gets back together,” he said.

The listing on the National Register of Historic Places doesn’t end the need for such volunteer effort at the rock garden. The listing may help the rock garden earn some grants to help with upkeep, but, Cannon-Miller said, “It still takes community support to make it happen.”