Mount Rushmore, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, features the faces of four United States presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) carved into the granite of the mountain.
From the beginning intended as a pure tourist attraction that would bring more people and revenue to South Dakota, the sculptures were initially created by Gutzon Borglum starting in 1927 and eventually finished by his son Lincoln Borglum in 1941 – with the help of many workers, of course. Today, Mount Rushmore National Memorial attracts between 2 and 3 million visitors a year.
While the image of Mount Rushmore is so iconic that it seems like you’ve seen it with your own eyes a dozen times, I was quite struck how different it felt to actually finally do see it with your own eyes. Here you are on a lovely road trip through the Black Hills and suddenly there they are, peeking over the tree line. The best part about this memorial is really to see it in the context of the hills and woods around it. It’s so surreal! And quite cool!
I never expected I would take the time in my life to travel to South Dakota and see Mount Rushmore. Now that I find myself (also never planned) living in Colorado, so many American road side attractions are within reach and I’m happily indulging in one of my favorite pastimes: road tripping!
This trip, we actually took in September 2014. I had saved a few videos from last year to share throughout the winter when it’s a bit more of a challenge to find interesting subjects to share with you, besides snow, snow, snow.
If you’d like to see more from the Black Hills trip, please check out these previous videos:
Devils Tower aka Bear Lodge (Wyoming) – In Another Minute (Week 228)
Spearfish Canyon (South Dakota) – In Another Minute (Week 229)
And come back for the upcoming videos from Crazy Horse Monument, Custer State Park and Needles Highway…
The featured song in this video is the instrumental version of “Good To Go” by Josh Woodward. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Thank you for all your great (and free) music, Josh!
