Then it was off to Mt. Rushmore, near the town of Keystown in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Carved on the hard granite of the 5,725 feet mountain are 60-foot sculptures of the heads of former United States presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. Construction on the memorial began in 1927, and the presidents' faces were completed between 1934 and 1939. The sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, died in 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, took over construction. Although the initial concept called for each president to be depicted from head to waist, lack of funding forced construction to end in late October 1941.
We also visited the Crazy Horse Memorial sculpture. Actually, we 'saw' it from the road as the cost to get up close was pricey. Construction of the sculpture was started in 1948 and is still far from completion. If and when it is completed, however, Crazy Horse will be the largest sculpture in the world.
Sights along the way 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12