Holy cow, let's all become Catholic! The Dickeyville Grotto and Shrines are in Dickeyville, Wisconsin (have I mentioned this state is a wonderland of visionary environments?), complete with shrines to a number of saints and Jesus, plus Christopher Columbus, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, AND they have a gift shop with traditional souvenirs! We got the snow globe grotto and a coffee mug.Immigrant priest Father Wernerus visited the Grotto of the Redemption in West Bend, Iowa (largest grotto ever built - it has a restaurant!) and got inspired. A speck of cement is hard to find, as Father Wernerus thoroughly encrusted every millimeter of space with rocks, minerals and glass shards collected by the barrelful from a glass factory in Kokomo, IN. The majority of the stuff was built between 1925-1929 - this man was busy, collecting rocks from local quarries as well as petitioning friends far and wide to send specimens from all 48 states (remember your US history). For example, the Tree of Life is made with petrified tree branches from the Petrified Forest in Arizona. Father Wernerus died of pneumonia in 1931.
Please view even better and more photos at http://www.agilitynut.com/h/dickeyville.html
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