Where My Heart is Today: Stonehenge for The Summer Solstice Sunrise in Wiltshire, England

Each year, I vow I will make it to this hollowed ground and see the sunrise on 21 June at Stonehenge. Like finding my family's birthplace in the Scotland, this holds particular interest to me, too, as I also am a small bit Welsh and Irish historically...two nationalities closely tied to those who allegedly constructed Stonehenge. I desperately attempted to find someone who would do a webcam for live coverage of the sunrise this year, but alas I was unsuccessful. Apparently the turnout was lower this year (and also calmer) because of heavy rains the night before; in addition, heavy cloud cover also prevented a 'full-on' sunrise display. Oh well...hope springs eternal for next year.

The following pictures and article are from BBC News, © BBC 2006. Ironically the BBC is the place I dreamed to go work most as a child, until I found out they (obviously) give very strong preference to fellow Brits and British nationals for employment. That, and I could never say 'aluminum' and 'schedule' the way they do without hesitation.

© BBC 2006.

© BBC 2006.


"Peaceful start to summer solstice" (This article also has some helpful animation snippets to show why the Summer Solstice is, and always has been, such a big deal there...although how much significance it had to the lives of our ancestors is still widely being investigated.)

Josh Bernstein's show "Digging for the Truth" on The History Channel is the best I've seen explaining how this massive structure was built, and they even try and recreate it. (Go to Family Screen Scene's review...as The History Channel doesn't really have one, boo...and search for the "Stonehenge Secrets Revealed" subsection to see what you've missed from history class.) Really fascinating show, they recently repeated this episode, maybe they'll do it again sometime soon.