A Monumental Vision
Each year, millions gaze up at the 60-foot faces of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt at Mount Rushmore. The man behind the mountain, Gutzon Borglum, began carving in 1927 at age 60, but his path to the Black Hills began with another project—on Stone Mountain, Georgia.
From Georgia Granite to South Dakota Rock
In 1914, Borglum was hired by the United Daughters of the Confederacy to sculpt Confederate generals into the face of Stone Mountain. Though he had no Southern ties, he aligned with the Ku Klux Klan, who supported the project. Internal conflict led to his firing in 1925.
An Explosive Exit
After being dismissed, Borglum destroyed his models and fled Georgia. His designs were removed, and Henry Augustus Lukeman replaced him. Still, his experience with large-scale rock carving prepared him for what would come next: Mount Rushmore.
Dynamite and Devotion
Borglum began work in South Dakota in 1927 and spent the last 14 years of his life on the project. He died in 1941 before its completion. His son Lincoln Borglum finished key elements of the sculpture, which required removing over 450,000 tons of rock from the mountain.
Each year, millions visit Mount Rushmore to view four presidential faces carved into granite.
But the story behind it begins not in South Dakota, but in Georgia—where sculptor Gutzon Borglum once worked on a Confederate monument and fled after being fired…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/9He9Lp3YOp
— Detective Tiger's Stories (@TigerDetective) April 22, 2025