Featuring A 5,000 Square Foot Home, Fully Furnished With 70s Décor And Furniture, A Zoo, Sculptures, Gift Shops, And Ice Cream Shop
Around 600 people a day visit a rock in Utah. Yes, a rock. Stone steps lead up to a natural cave, ridged around the edges, leading to a dark and shadowy interior. Six-hundred people are going into this rock every day. Why? Well, it's actually a house. The Hole N' The Rock is not the only house inside of a cave in the state.
In fact, there's a polygamist community just south of The Hole N' The Rock that live in rock homes called Rockland USA. There's rock homes all along the Colorado River. But Hole N' The Rock is one of the only rock homes that can be visited and explored.
Inside the Hole N' The Rock is a 5,000 square foot home, fully furnished with 70s décor and furniture, untouched since the Christensen family lived there. With over 14 rooms “arranged around huge pillars,” the Hole N' The Rock home is thought of as a man-made engineering marvel.
According to the home's history, the home was just a natural cave back in the 1920s, used to store hay for animals on the property. Three miners – all brothers – decided to blast the cave and make room inside of it for a small diner during the uranium boom of the 40s. Later, the Christensens purchased the property.
Albert Christensen excavated 50,000 cubic square feet of sandstone from the rock over a 12 year period. The rock became a “small alcove for the young Christensen boys to sleep in at night.” But Albert had bigger ideas.
When he died in 1957, his wife Gladys wanted to keep his dream alive. She continued to develop the property by opening up a gift shop and giving tours of the home, where visitors can take a 12 minute guided tour through the rock, seeing Glady's bedroom with her doll collection, art sculptures and paintings. And it's only continued to grow from there.
On the Hole N' The Rock property, there's a zoo with all kinds of exotic animals like camels, zebras and bison. Families can get up close to the animals and feed them. Baby animals are born frequently. There's antiques, vintage signs and mining equipment on display, as well as a large collection of metal sculptures on the property.
Another favorite for travelers is the property's trading post, which has locally made Native American pottery, jewelry and other unique items. There's also a general store with ice cream.
Not many people would think of a zoo or a house when they think of a giant sandstone rock. Not many people would believe a rock could be a tourist attraction. Hole N' The Rock is all of the above and more. And that's what drew current owners Wyndee Hansen and her husband Erik to the property 16 years ago.
“I hear it all the time,” said Hansen. “People ask why we don't just live in the rock and close the place? But this is a landmark. It's been here since the 40s. We get so many visitors a day. Old folks in town remember coming out during the uranium boom and dining and dancing here. It would go down in the news if it were to close.”
Not to say the couple is against living in a rock home.
“I would move into a rock home in a heartbeat,” she said. “I see a few of them around here. They're more modern than some of the other homes, honestly. They're light and airy. There's so much natural light.”
When people go on the tour of the Christensen home they are surprised by the spacious interior and high ceilings. There are carpets, windows, doorways. There's electricity. It's the same temperature all year long. But unlike most homes, noted Hansen, they're safe from natural disasters and nuclear bombs.
Featured in National Geographic as one of their top ten roadside attractions, in Gap ads as a backdrop and in Michael Bay's “Transformers”, it seems other people are drawn to its unique looks as well. People from all over the world want to get a tour of the rock home. In fact, when the Hansens had to close Hole N' The Rock to the public while Michael Bay was shooting his blockbuster, “it was tough.” They had security at all of the gates. Yet people still wanted to come in, “but we couldn't let them.”
With a zoo, ice cream, sculptures and unique gift shops, it's amazing that the Hole N' The Rock's biggest selling point to this day is still the rock itself. Again…a cave. Despite not being touched since the 1970s, people who take a tour of the home often think to the future of home design.
Olivia Richman
A graduate of East Connecticut State University in Journalism, Olivia has written for Stonebridge Press & Antiques Marketplace among others. She enjoys writing, running and video games.
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