
Mount Rushmore
I remember my first trip to Mount Rushmore as a kid with my mom and dad. When Saydie and I decided to skip traveling to San Diego due to COVID-19 starting to resurge in the area, we needed an alternative location to go, and that is why we decided to head north to the Black Hills, and I thought it was only fitting that I also take my kid to see Mount Rushmore. So we booked a KOA down the road and we got to visit Mount Rushmore…The Big Idea
The idea of a large mountain carving is credited to South Dakota State Historian Doane Robinson, who was looking for ways to attract tourists to the state. Recruiting renowned sculptor Gutzon Borglum to the project, Doane and other prominent South Dakota leaders secured Congressional support in 1925 and began to raise funds, including $250,000 from the federal government. Carving began on October 4, 1927, removing tons of granite and slowly shaping the mountain. Originally meant to portray the presidents to the waist, only the heads were finished. Borglum’s death in 1941, along with the impending American involvement in World War II, led to the end of the work on the mountain. On October 31, 1941, Mount Rushmore National Memorial was declared a completed project.