Adventures abroad 2

Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is located in the Black Hills of South Dakota. The idea came from Jonah L. (“Doane”) Robinson(1856-1946), a lawyer and historian who thought the monument could be a tourist attraction for the state.

Robinson contacted Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who identified Mount Rushmore as a perfect location for a grand monument. Robinson worked with President Calvin Coolidge (1872-1933) to gain support in Congress for the funding of the monument. It took 14 years to complete Mount Rushmore.

The four presidents carved in the mountain are George Washington(1732-1799), Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), and Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865).

Air Force One Flying over Mount Rushmore

Mount Rushmore is part of the National Park Service:

http://www.nps.gov/moru/historyculture/index.htm


Mount Rushmore is the site of a climactic chase in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller, North by Northwest.

I was in Mount Rushmore with my children, in 2004. It was a very long trip by car from Minnesota, but it was worth it.

Learn about the carving of the mountain:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/rushmore/sfeature/sf_carving.html