Stone Mountain
Park is located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and takes its name from a huge quartz monzonite rock that features an enormous bas relief carving of three Civil War figures. The state of Georgia owns and maintains the 3,200-acre park, which is only 16 miles from Atlanta. Welcoming 4 million visitors each year, the park was founded in 1958 as part of a longstanding movement to complete a memorial to confederate soldiers.
Facts
The mountain that gives the park its name boasts an elevation of 1,686 feet above sea level at the summit. With a 5-mile circumference around the base of the great rock, the mountain itself covers 583 acres. At its deepest point, the rock extends roughly 9 miles underground. In 1916 the mountain was owned by the Venable family, who deeded the massive rock to the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Helen Plane, a charter member of the UDC, was an early driving force behind the idea of creating a sculpture on the mountain that would commemorate confederate veterans.
The Sculpture
One distinction that Stone Mountain Park can claim is that of having the largest bas relief sculpture in the world. The Confederate Memorial Carving is actually the work of four different sculptors, Gutzon Borglum, Augustus Lukeman, Walker Hancock and Roy Faulkner. Work on the sculpture spanned nearly 60 years. The carving measures 90 by 190 feet and features three Confederate heroes; Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis. The completed carving spans a 3-acre area on the north face of the mountain.
The Memorial
The motives for creating a Confederate memorial have been questioned almost since the very beginning. Disagreements about the purpose behind the memorial stalled efforts to complete the monument for decades, and the Great Depression brought all work to a halt. A major push to complete the memorial began in the 1950s. Stone Mountain was purchased by the state of Georgia in 1958, and the area was turned into a state park. Work to complete the monument continued until it was finally completed in 1972.
Klan Connections
The opening of D.W. Griffith's classic silent film "The Birth of a Nation" coupled with the ongoing discussion of creating a Confederate memorial on the site were said to have furnished inspiration for Ku Klux Klan activity near Stone Mountain in 1915. When a group of men dressed in robes and hoods met at the mountain in November 1915, a new incarnation of the Klan was born.
Misconceptions
The mountain was famously dubbed the "largest exposed piece of granite in the world" but this distinction is not accurate. Not only are there many larger examples of exposed granite in existence, the mountain is not technically made of granite but is actually quartz. This of course does not take away from the sheer majesty of the massive rock. It was regarded as major geological feature long before the Confederate Memorial Carving was conceived.
Growth
Over the years a number of attractions have been added to the park. These attractions include a family ropes adventure course, hiking trails, a railroad and a children's activity center. An antebellum plantation and farmyard provide an open air museum that allows visitors to experience southern plantation life as it existed before the Civil War. The Confederate Hall Historical and Environmental Education Center opened in 2004 and features a theater and many interactive science exhibits.
Tags: Stone Mountain, Mountain Park, Stone Mountain Park, complete memorial, complete monument
