Mt. Rushmore Monument was our original destination of this trip, therefore we decided to visit it first. We learned earlier that the 4 presidents’ faces are facing south east and the best time for photographing is in the morning. We left the hotel at 7:30AM and took about 44 minutes to Mt. Rushmore Monument. Prior to reaching the monument, we could see it from distance, so stopped twice on the road sides to take pictures from a distance.
When we got to the monument, we were there earlier enough before the crowd and were able to take good pictures without too many people standing in the way between us and the presidents' faces. We also passed through the Alley of Flags and admired presidents' faces along with the flags. We also hiked on the Presidential Trail, so we were able to see this amazing work in a closer distance.
From what we learned, the person in charge of carving Mt Rushmore was Gutzon Borgium who looked at these faces from the base of the mountain and from every angle. He also looked at these faces at different times of the day, examining the light and the shadows. It took 14 years and 28 days to carve Mt Rushmore. At first, Gutzon Borglum planned to carve the faces in the following order: Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln which would put George Washington in the middle. But when the workers were halfway through carving Thomas Jefferson, they realized that the rock was weak. So, Borglum and the workers blasted Jefferson off the mountain and began to carve him on the other side of Washington. Because of this, Borglum had to figure out a new place to put Lincoln. He decided to carve Lincoln on the end where the rock would be stable.
One interesting question is why South Dakota was chosen to be the place to carve Mr Rushmore. Turned out South Dakota wasn’t chosen for the location, rather, South Dakota was where the idea developed. Done Robinson lived in Pierre, South Dakota wanted to carve the “Needles” in the Black Hills for western heroes. But Sculptor Gutzon Borglum believed that faces of the presidents would be long-lasting symbol of the US, its history and its ideals of freedom and democracy. He chose George Washington represented the birth of the US, Thomas Jefferson represented the growth of the US, Abraham Lincoln represented the preservation of the US, and the Theodore Roosevelt represented the development of the US.
One interesting question is why South Dakota was chosen to be the place to carve Mr Rushmore. Turned out South Dakota wasn’t chosen for the location, rather, South Dakota was where the idea developed. Done Robinson lived in Pierre, South Dakota wanted to carve the “Needles” in the Black Hills for western heroes. But Sculptor Gutzon Borglum believed that faces of the presidents would be long-lasting symbol of the US, its history and its ideals of freedom and democracy. He chose George Washington represented the birth of the US, Thomas Jefferson represented the growth of the US, Abraham Lincoln represented the preservation of the US, and the Theodore Roosevelt represented the development of the US.
Afternoon, we visited the nearby Crazy Horse Memorial which is paying tribute to the culture, tradition and living heritage of American Indians and the spirit of legendary Lakota leader, Crazy Horse. It is the world’s largest ongoing mountain carving. It has been in progress since 1948 and is far from completion. It was sculpted by Korczak Ziolkowski and now is operated by a private non-profit organization managed by his wife and children. It is planned to be 641 feet wide and 563 feet hight. The head of Crzy Horse will be 87 feet high; by comparison, the heads of the four US Presidents at Mt Rushmore are each 60 feet hight. We did take a bus tour to get closer to the memorial, and we also stayed and watched an Indian Hoop Dance performance.
At evening we went to Mt Rushmore again to enjoy the evening program and the lighting show. Unfortunately it rained, and the rain ruined the fun. The lighting show was only simple spot non-color lights beaming on 4 presidents' faces. With the cloudy weather, there were a lot of dark cloudily spots on their faces which was not spectacularly as we expected. But we did visit it at night.
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