Stone Mountain
Park
Stone Mountain Park surrounds the quartz
monzonite dome monadnock in Stone Mountain, Georgia, with a peak
of 1686 feet high, the mountain granite goes underground for 9
miles at its deepest place in Gwinnett County, with many local
and state literature stating that it is the biggest chunk of
granite in the world. It is well-known for its outstanding
geology and the beautiful bas-relief that was carved on its
north face, which is the biggest in the world and depicts three
figures of the Confederate States of America; Jefferson Davis,
Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. The base's circumference is
over five miles, and the summit can be reached by going up a
walk-up trail on the western side of it, only. The trail begins
near Confederate Hall, inside the west gate entry point, but the
peak can be visited by the Skyride gondola. The peak is bare
rocks and rock pools, with some of the most spectacular views in
the region, and may include the skyline of downtown Atlanta,
Kennesaw Mountain and on clear days maybe the Appalachian
Mountains. The lower slopes are thickly forested with rare
Georgia oak discovered on its peak, with numerous specimens seen
along the trail up. During the autumn foliage blast, the very
rare Confederate yellow daisy flowers appear on the mountain,
often seen growing in the many rock crevices and in the larger
wooded areas. The bas relief measures three acres altogether
which is about three football fields, and rises some 400 feet
above the ground, measuring 90 by 190 feet, and recessed into
the mountain by some 42 feet. The magnificent carving was
conceived by Mrs. D. Helen Plane, a charter member of the United
Daughters of the Confederacy, and the Venable family, that own
the mountain, would donate the north face of the mountain to the
UDC in 1916, and given twelve years to complete it. Gutzon
Borglum was commissioned to do the work, but abandoned it in
1923 to work on Mount Rushmore instead. American sculptor
Augustus Lukeman would continue the work until 1928, when it
would be stopped for thirty years. In 1958, Governor Marvin
Griffin, urged the legislature to buy the mountain, and Walker
Hancock was picked to finish, starting on it in 1964, but it
would be Roy Faulkner who actually finished it in 1972.
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