Mount Rushmore National Memorial
See also: National Parks and Monuments (table)National Parks and Monuments
National Parks
Name Type1 Location Year authorized Size
acres (hectares)
Description
Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery.
..... Click the link for more information.
Mount Rushmore National Memorial,
1,278 acres (518 hectares), SW S.Dak., in the Black Hills; est. 1925, dedicated 1927. There, carved on the face of the mountain and visible for 60 mi (97 km), are the enormous (60 ft/18.3 m high) heads of four U.S. presidents—Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. The sculpture was designed by Gutzon BorglumBorglum, Gutzon(John Gutzon de la Mothe Borglum) , 1867–1941, American sculptor, b. Idaho; son of a Danish immigrant physician and rancher. He studied at the San Francisco Art Academy and in Paris at Julian's academy and the École des Beaux-Arts.
..... Click the link for more information. , who had even more ambitious plans for the site. These were abandoned when he died (1941), and the work was finished later that year by his son Lincoln. In all, it took 14 years to complete the figures, which during the summer are visited by more than 20,000 tourists daily. See National Parks and MonumentsNational Parks and Monuments
National Parks
Name Type1 Location Year authorized Size
acres (hectares)
Description
Acadia NP SE Maine 1919 48,419 (19,603) Mountain and coast scenery.
..... Click the link for more information. , table.
Bibliography
See J. Taliaferro, Great White Fathers: The Story of the Obsessive Quest to Create Mount Rushmore (2002).
Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Keystone, SD 57751
Phone:605-574-2523
Fax:605-574-2307
Web: www.nps.gov/moru/
Size: 1,278 acres.
Established: Authorized on March 3, 1925.
Location:Surrounded by the Black Hills National Forest, memorial is 25 miles southwest of Rapid City, South Dakota, via US 16; and 3 miles from Keystone, South Dakota, via US 16A and SD 244.
Facilities:Rest rooms (é), restaurant/snacks, visitor center (é), museum/exhibit.
Activities:Ranger-led programs, cultural events.
Special Features:Colossal heads of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt were sculpted by Gutzon Borglum on the face of a granite mountain. A lighting ceremony is presented in the amphitheater during summer evenings.
See other parks in South Dakota.