Stone Mountain, Georgia
Stone Mountain
Travelers go to Atlanta, Georgia, for myriad reasons, and rightfully so. Atlanta is the financial, cultural, fashion, education, manufacturing and sports center of the state; but while it’s not the geographical center, all roads lead to and through Atlanta.
The first white settlement was a fort established in 1813. In the Civil War, Atlanta served as the Confederate arsenal throughout most of the war without being touched by it, except as a care center for some 60,000 wounded soldiers. War came down on Atlanta on May 7, 1864, under the hand of General William Tecumseh Sherman. He laid siege to the city, which finally was forced into surrender on September 2. Atlanta subsequently was burned with more than ninety percent of the city’s and surrounding structures destroyed.
By January the following year, Atlanta began to rise from the ashes. In 1868 it was designated capital of the reconstituted and readmitted state, and has steadily gone on to earn recognition as one of the most vital cities of the country, of the world. It could be said that the rock Atlanta is built on is Stone Mountain. Apologies to the town of Stone Mountain just east of Atlanta where the rock edifice actually is situated.
Mountain is a rock dome, and as noted, is in Stone Mountain, Georgia (but practically in Atlanta). At its summit, the elevation is 1686 feet (513 m) above sea-level, and 825 feet (251 m) above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain granite extends underground nine miles (14 km) at its longest point into Gwinnett County. In spite of some local boasts, it is not “the largest exposed piece of granite in the world”. Neither is it technically granite, but actually a quartz monzonite rock when described in geologic terms. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. The locals truthfully can make that boast.
The carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War, President Jefferson Davis and generals Robert E. Lee and “Stonewall” Jackson (and their favorite horses, “Blackjack,” “Traveller and “Little Sorrel”, respectively). The entire carved surface measures 3 acres (12,000 m2), about the size of three football fields. The carving of the three men towers 400 feet (120 m) above the ground, measures 90 by 190 feet (58 m), and is recessed 42 feet (13 m) into the mountain.
In 1912, the carving existed only in the imagination of Mrs. C. Helen Plane, charter member of the United daughters of the Confederacy (UDC). The owners of the mountain deeded the north face of the mountain to the UDC in 1916. The UDC was given 12 years to complete a sizable Civil War monument. Gutzon Borglum was commissioned to do the carving, but he abandoned the project in 1923 (and later went on to complete Mount Rushmore. American sculptor Augustus Lukeman continued until 1928, when further work stopped for thirty years.
In 1958, at the urging of the Governor, the Georgia legislature approved a measure to purchase the entire Stone Mountain for $1,125,000. In 1963,Walker Hancock was selected to complete the carving, and work began in 1964. The carving was completed by Roy Faulkner on March 3, 1972.
So far, and hopefully never, political correctness has not dictated that these heroes of the Confederate States of America be obliterated. On summer nights the mountain is home to the Laser show Spectacular which uses popular and classic music to entertain park guests with a large fireworks and laser light display. The American Civil War is acknowledged, but the strength of a reunited country concludes the message.
* Now available in Kindle Books
Our Splendid Earth (South Africa Sampler)
Our Splendid Earth II (Random America)
Our Splendid Earth III (The American West)
*
