Mt. Rushmore

Mount Rushmore: Monumental, Complicated, and Still Worth Visiting

Mount Rushmore is one of those American icons that looks exactly like its photographs — four presidential faces carved 18 metres tall into a granite cliff in the Black Hills of South Dakota. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln. The sculpture is unambiguously impressive as engineering and as spectacle. The history around it is more complicated: the Black Hills were sacred Lakota Sioux land, taken by the US government in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty after gold was discovered there. The Lakota have refused the settlement money ($1.3 billion as of recent estimates, sitting in a federal trust) and continue to claim the land. A visit is more interesting if you hold both things at once.

The memorial is operated by the National Park Service and entry to the site itself is free. There is a parking fee of $10 per vehicle. Most visitors spend two to three hours, which is enough.

The Site

The Avenue of Flags at the entrance is lined with state flags and flags of US territories. The main viewing terrace faces the mountain directly, about 600 metres from the faces. Closer viewing is available from the Presidential Trail, a paved 0.8-km loop that brings you to within about 150 metres of the base of the carvings.

The Lincoln Borglum Museum (named for the sculptor’s son, who completed the project after Gutzon Borglum’s death in 1941) has a solid exhibition covering the construction: how 800 workers carved the granite using dynamite and pneumatic drills over fourteen years, how Borglum changed the design several times, and what the completed monument was supposed to look like (the Hall of Records, planned for the canyon behind the faces, was never built).

The evening lighting ceremony runs from late May to mid-September: the monument is illuminated after dark and Park Rangers give a talk before the lights come on. It’s worth staying for if you’re in the area.

Crazy Horse Memorial

Seventeen miles south, the Crazy Horse Memorial is a counterpoint many visitors choose to include. The carving, depicting the Oglala Lakota leader on horseback, has been in progress since 1948 and is being carved by the Ziolkowski family on a private, non-profit basis, refusing all federal funding. The face was completed in 1998; the horse’s head has been the ongoing work since. The scale when complete will dwarf Mount Rushmore significantly.

The entrance costs $15 per person, which funds the ongoing work. The Indian Museum of North America on site is substantive.

Practical Notes

Rapid City, 30 miles east, is the main base. It has a reasonable range of hotels and good access to the surrounding Black Hills, including Custer State Park (excellent wildlife viewing — bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorn) and Wind Cave National Park. A rental car is essential; there’s no meaningful public transport in the area.

July and August are the busiest months. Arrive before 9am to avoid the worst of the parking and crowd situation. September and October bring fewer visitors and pleasant weather.