Hole N' the Rock

Hole N' the Rock is one of Moab's most eccentric attractions: a 5,000-square-foot home carved directly into a sandstone cliff face on US-191, six miles south of town. Albert Christensen blasted and chiselled the dwelling from 1945 to 1957, creating a 14-room house complete with a fireplace, a bathtub, and a small chapel inside the rock.

Tours of the interior run throughout the day and take about 20 minutes. The rooms are still furnished as the Christensens left them, and the guides are happy to explain the technical challenges of constructing a home that needed no foundations but required blasting through sandstone. The grounds outside have a petting zoo and gift shop — it is a proper roadside attraction in the best tradition. Worth stopping for the sheer improbability of it.

Practical: Entry around $7. Open daily. On US-191 south of Moab.

things to do sight
A story
Albert Christensen spent twelve years — from 1945 to his death in 1957 — blasting 5,000 cubic feet of sandstone out of the cliff face by hand to create the home. His wife Gladys, who outlived him, turned it into a roadside attraction and ran it until her own death in 1974. The couple are both buried inside the rock, per Albert's specifications.