Wild Place: Orkney Islands

Found on one of the Orkney Islands, a cluster of 70 rocky outcrops off Scotland’s northern coast, the Standing Stones of Stenness on Mainland are one of the oldest stone circles in the British Isles. The stones were left by Stone Age settlers, used for ceremonies more than 5,000 years ago; then by Vikings to worship Norse gods 4,000 years later. Two hundred years ago this month, the Orkneys achieved a different kind of fame in the novel Frankenstein. Author Mary Shelley sent her man-made creature to this lonely land in search of a wife.