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Stone Mountain

December 18, 2023

This article is about the mountain in the U.S. state of Georgia. For the nearby city, see Stone Mountain, Georgia. For other uses, see Stone Mountain (disambiguation).

Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park, 16 miles (26 km) east of Atlanta, Georgia. Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain, Georgia. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia.

Stone Mountain
The mountain viewed from a distance
Highest point
Elevation1,686 ft (514 m)
Prominence825 ft (251 m)
Coordinates33°48′21.40″N 84°8′43.52″W / 33.8059444°N 84.1454222°W / 33.8059444; -84.1454222
Geography
Topo mapUSGS Stone Mountain, Georgia

The park is owned by the state of Georgia. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet (514 m) above sea level and 825 feet (251 m) above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain is well known for not only its geology, but also the enormous rock relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief artwork in the world.[1] The carving, completed in 1972, depicts three Confederate leaders, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson.[2][3]

Stone Mountain, once owned by the Venable Brothers,[4] was seen from the outset "as a memorial to the Confederacy."[5] Stone Mountain Park officially opened on April 14, 1965 – 100 years to the day after Lincoln's assassination,[6] although the park had already been in use for a few years.[7]

The mountain top and Skyride

The mountain, which ranges in composition from quartz monzonite to granite and granodiorite, is more than 5 miles (8 km) in circumference at its base. The summit of the mountain can be reached by a walk-up trail on the west side of the mountain or by the Skyride aerial tram.

Geology edit

 
Stone mountain through trees

Stone Mountain is a pluton, a type of igneous intrusion. Primarily composed of quartz monzonite, the dome of Stone Mountain was formed during the formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains around 300–350 million years ago (during the Carboniferous period), part of the Appalachian Mountains.[8] It formed as a result of the upwelling of magma from within the Earth's crust. This magma solidified to form granite within the crust 5 to 10 miles (8 to 16 km) below the surface.

The Stone Mountain pluton continues underground 9 miles (14 km) at its longest point into Gwinnett County. Numerous reference books and Georgia literature have dubbed Stone Mountain as "the largest exposed piece of granite in the world".[9] This misconception is most likely a result of misrepresentation by granite companies and early park administration. Stone Mountain, though often called a pink granite dome, actually ranges in composition from quartz monzonite[10] to granite and granodiorite.[11]

The minerals within the rock include quartz, plagioclase feldspar, microcline, and muscovite, with smaller amounts of biotite and tourmaline. The tourmaline is mostly black in color, and the majority of it exists as optically continuous skeletal[12] crystals, but much larger, euhedral pegmatitic tourmaline crystals can also be found in the mountain's numerous, cross-cutting felsic dikes. Embedded in the granite are xenoliths or pieces of foreign rocks entrained in the magma.

The granite intruded into the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont region during the last stages of the Alleghenian Orogeny, which was the time when North America and North Africa collided. Over time, erosion eventually exposed the present mountain of more resistant igneous rock. This intrusion of granite also gave rise to Panola Mountain and Arabia Mountain, both in DeKalb County, smaller outcroppings farther south of Stone Mountain.

 
High resolution panoramic view from the summit of Stone Mountain

Natural history edit

 
South side of Stone Mountain from the Songbird Habitat and Trail in 2009
 
Summit of Stone Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain (center) and Atlanta (left) in background

The top of the mountain is a landscape of bare rock and rock pools, and it provides views of the surrounding area including the skyline of downtown Atlanta, often Kennesaw Mountain, and on very clear days even the Appalachian Mountains. On some days, the top of the mountain is shrouded in a heavy fog, and visibility may be limited to only a few feet.

The clear freshwater pools on the summit form by rainwater gathering in eroded depressions, and are home to unusual clam shrimp and fairy shrimp. The tiny shrimp appear only during the rainy season. Through the process of cryptobiosis, the tiny shrimp eggs (or cysts) can remain dormant for years in the dried out depressions, awaiting favorable conditions. These vernal pools are also home to several federally listed rare and endangered plant species, such as black-spored quillwort (Isoetes melanospora) and pool sprite (also called snorkelwort, Gratiola amphiantha).[13][14]

The mountain's lower slopes are wooded. The rare Georgia oak was first discovered at the summit, and several specimens can easily be found along the walk-up trail and in the woods around the base of the mountain. In the fall, the Confederate yellow daisy (Helianthus porteri) flowers appear on the mountain, growing in rock crevices and in the large wooded areas. More than 120 wildflowers, most of them native to the Southern Appalachians and including several rare or federally protected species, have been identified on the mountain.[15]

Confederate Memorial Carving edit

 
Close-up of the memorial
 
1925 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar (design by Borglum)
 
U.S. postage stamp, 1970
 
Advertisement for Stone Mountain in Dixie Highway magazine, May 1925
 
Carving in progress in 1926

The largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, the Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War: President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (on their favorite horses, Blackjack, Traveller, and Little Sorrel, respectively). The sculpture was cut 42 feet (13 m) deep into the mountain,[16] measures 90 feet (27 m) in height and 190 feet (58 m) in width,[17] and lies 400 feet (120 m) above the ground.[18]

David Freeman, writing on the origins of the memorial, states: "Who first conceived of a Confederate memorial on the side of Stone Mountain has long been a matter of debate..... The written evidence...points to Francis Ticknor, a nineteenth-century physician and poet from Jones County, Georgia...in an 1869 poem.... William H. Terrell, an Atlanta attorney and son of a Confederate veteran, ...suggested it publicly on May 26, 1914 in an editorial for the Atlanta Constitution."[19]: 55  Three weeks later, Georgian John Temple Graves, editor of the New York American, suggested it should have a 70-foot (21 m) statue of Robert E. Lee.[19]: 56 

The project was greatly advanced by C. Helen Plane,[20] a charter member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) and first president and Honorary Life President of the Georgia State Division.[19]: 57  After obtaining the approval of the Georgia UDC, she set up the UDC Stone Mountain Memorial Association. She chose the sculptor Gutzon Borglum for the project and invited him to visit the mountain (although, despite his Ku Klux Klan involvement,[19]: 79  she "would not shake his hand—he was, after all, a Yankee").[19]: 58–59  She met him at the Atlanta train station, took him to her family's summer home, Mont Rest, at the foot of the mountain, and introduced him to Sam Venable,[19]: 59  an active Klan member and owner of the mountain. Borglum also enlisted Luigi Del Bianco, whom he would also involve in Mount Rushmore.[21]

Borglum's original plan was having five groups of figures, sixty-five mounted officers representing the states (to be chosen by the states), General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry—some 700 to 1,000 figures, each from 35 feet (11 m) to 50 feet (15 m) high. In addition, Borglum planned a room cut 60 feet (18 m) into the mountain, 320 feet (98 m) wide, and 40 feet (12 m) high, faced by 13 columns.[19]: 59–60 

Venable deeded the north face of the mountain to the UDC in 1916, on the condition that it complete a sizable Civil War monument in 12 years. Finances as well as technical problems slowed progress. The U.S. Mint issued a 1925 Commemorative silver U.S. half dollar, bearing the words "Stone Mountain", as a fundraiser for the monument.[22] This issue, which required the approval of both the 1926 Congress and President Calvin Coolidge, was the largest issue of commemorative coins by the U.S. government up to that time.[19]: 81 

Financial conflicts between Borglum and the Association led to his firing in 1925.[19]: 85  Borglum destroyed his models, claiming that they were his property, but the Association disagreed and had a warrant issued for his arrest. He was warned of the arrest and narrowly escaped to North Carolina, whose governor, Angus McLean, refused to extradite him,[19]: 89  though he could not return to Georgia. The affair was highly publicized and there was much discussion and discord, including discord between Sam Venable, the Association and Association president Hollins Randolph.[19]: 103, 116–119  The face of Lee that Borglum had partially completed was blasted off the mountain in 1928.[19]: 111 

Borglum's next major project was Mount Rushmore.

After a number of sculptors turned them down,[19]: 97  Augustus Lukeman took up the work in 1925, with a different, smaller design. Fundraising was even more difficult after the public debate and name-calling, and work stopped in 1928. In 1941, segregationist Governor Eugene Talmadge formed the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA) to continue work on the memorial, but the project was delayed once again by the United States' entry into World War II (1941–45).[23]

In response to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement, in 1958, at the urging of segregationist Governor Marvin Griffin,[6]: 21  the Georgia legislature approved a measure to purchase Stone Mountain at a price of $1,125,000. In 1963, Walker Hancock was selected to complete the carving, and work began in 1964. The carving was dedicated in a ceremony on May 9, 1970.[24] The carving was completed by Roy Faulkner on March 3, 1972.[25] Faulkner in 1985 opened the Stone Mountain Carving Museum (now closed) on nearby Memorial Drive commemorating the carving's history.[26] An extensive archival collection related to the project is now at Emory University, with the bulk of the materials dating from 1915 to 1930; the finding aid provides a history of the project, and an index of the papers contained in the collection.[20]

Four flags of the Confederacy are flown at the site.[27] The Stone Mountain Memorial Lawn "contains...thirteen terraces—one for each Confederate state.... Each terrace flies the flag that the state flew as member of the Confederacy."[28]

The replica plantation edit

In 1963, there opened beneath the sculpture a replica plantation, where slave quarters were described as "neat" and "well furnished" in promotional materials. The slaves were called "hands" or "workers," and black actress Butterfly McQueen (from Gone with the Wind) was hired to guide and inform visitors.[29] The park states that the plantation was inspired by Gone with the Wind.[30] The plantation has been renamed Historic Square.

Involvement of the Ku Klux Klan edit

 
William J. Simmons founded the reborn Klan atop Stone Mountain in 1915.
 
The Atlanta Constitution clipping Nov. 28, 1915, describing the Klan re-establishment atop Stone Mountain

According to sociologist James W. Loewen, Stone Mountain was "the sacred site to members of the second and third national klans."[31]: 262  Loewen alleges that the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan—the second Klan—was inspired by D. W. Griffith's 1915 Klan-glorifying film, The Birth of a Nation.[32] It was followed in August by the highly publicized lynching of Leo Frank, who had been convicted of murder, in nearby Marietta, Georgia. Loewen further alleges that on November 25 of the same year, Thanksgiving Day, a small group, including fifteen robed and hooded "charter members" of the new organization, met at the summit of Stone Mountain to create a new iteration of the Klan. Led by William J. Simmons, it included two elderly members of the original Klan. As part of their ceremony, they set up on the summit an altar covered with a flag, opened a Bible, and burned a 16 ft (4.9 m) cross.[6]: 20 [33]

James R. Venable attended the 1915 revival of the KKK on top of Stone Mountain and later became an Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which was one of the later KKK factions.[34] He owned land at the base of the mountain that he had inherited from his ancestors, and in October of 1923 he granted the Klan an easement with perpetual right to hold celebrations as they desired.[35] However, the property was condemned in 1960 at the behest of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association.[36]

The Klan also held cross-burnings at the summit of the mountain on different occasions from 1915 onward.[37][38] This practice came to an end in 1962, when the Klan attempted to hold a mountaintop cross-burning in response to the NAACP holding its national convention in Atlanta.[37] The Stone Mountain Memorial Association did not want either group using state property for demonstrations, and convinced Governor Ernest Vandiver to order state troopers to stop the event.[37] Seventy troopers attempted to stop several hundred Klansmen gathered at the base of the mountain from climbing to the summit, but the Klansmen were armed with billy clubs, flashlights, and stones, and greatly outnumbered the officers.[37] The police negotiated a truce with the local Klan Grand Dragon, under which the Klansmen would refrain from further violence, but 20 of their number would be allowed to climb the mountain for a “religious ceremony”, and the cross-burning was substituted with the lighting of a flare.[37]

In August of 2017, the Klan was denied a permit for a mountaintop cross-burning.[37]

Fundraising for the monument resumed in 1923. The influence of the UDC continued, in support of Mrs. Plane's vision of a carving explicitly for the purpose of creating a Confederate memorial. She suggested in a letter to the first sculptor, Gutzon Borglum:

I feel it is due to the Klan[,] which saved us from Negro dominations [sic] and carpetbag rule, that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain. Why not represent a small group of them in their nightly uniform approaching in the distance?[6]: 21 [23]

The UDC established the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association (SMCMA) for fundraising and on-site supervision of the project. Venable and Borglum, both closely associated with the Klan, arranged to pack the SMCMA with Klan members.[39] The SMCMA, along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, continued fundraising efforts. Of the $250,000 (~$3.34 million in 2022) raised, part came from the federal government, which in 1925 issued commemorative fifty-cent coins with the soldiers Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on them.[40] The image on the verso of the coin was based on The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson,[41] executed in 1869 by Everett B. D. Fabrino Julio,[a] itself an icon of Lost Cause mythology; it is now in the American Civil War Museum (until 2012 the Museum of the Confederacy).[42] When the state completed the purchase in 1960, it condemned the property to void Venable's agreement to allow the Klan perpetual right to hold meetings on the premises.[39]

Proposed removal of the carving edit

See also: Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials

After the Charleston church shooting in mid-2015, Stone Mountain was the subject of a political debate related to the removal of symbols of the Confederacy.[43] This controversy was stimulated by a movement in other states to remove the Confederate battle flag and statues of Confederate leaders from public areas.

[The Confederate sculpture at Stone Mountain is] the largest shrine to white supremacy in the history of the world ... I don't think people understand the objective and the intent. They don't understand that it's based on white supremacy because the [American Civil War] was based on white supremacy, and the 'heroes' are based on white supremacy. After the killings at Emanuel Church in Charleston, it finally crystallized for me that these monuments encourage violence and validate oppression.

— President of the NAACP Richard Rose[6]

In July 2015, the Atlanta NAACP proposed removing the Confederate carving from Stone Mountain Park.[44] However, this would require the approval of the Georgia Legislature, as would any change to a "military monument" in the state.[45]

On October 11, 2015, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported the park was considering a proposal of a permanent "Freedom Bell" honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and the line "Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia", from King's 1963 "I Have a Dream" speech.[46] The proposed monument is inspired by a bell-ringing ceremony held in 2013 honoring the 50th anniversary of King's speech. It is not supported by the NAACP or King-founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), who want the Confederate symbols removed rather than a King symbol added.[47] Advance Local reported in 2015 that both the DeKalb County branch of the NAACP and the Sons of Confederate Veterans were opposed to the bell because it would have been put next to a Confederate monument. Representatives of the NAACP were quoted in the article saying "It's an attempt to gain support from blacks to keep these racist and demeaning symbols."[48][needs update]

In August 2017, after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—a white nationalist protest against the removal of the Robert E. Lee monument and Stonewall Jackson sculpture—turned violent, many people across the country again demanded the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials as part of a national political debate.[49][50][51] Georgia State Representative and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams called for the removal, by sandblasting, of Stone Mountain's carving.[52][53] She called it "a blight upon our state".[54][55]

On July 5, 2020, 100 to 200 armed protesters came to Stone Mountain to call for the carving's removal.[56] Known as the Not Fucking Around Coalition (NFAC), it was a protest against both overt and systemic racism, calling out white supremacists, with the location being chosen in part due to its history as the place where the Ku Klux Klan was re-formed.[57]

On August 15, 2020, the park administration temporarily closed its gates in reaction to a gathering of white nationalists planned there, and the city's public buses were suspended for the day. Nevertheless, a fight broke out downtown between the gatherers[clarification needed] downtown and counter-protesters, with no injuries reported.[58]

History edit

 
Stone Mountain, c. 1910
 
Grist Mill from 1869 at Stone Mountain
 
Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad depot, 1971

Human habitation of Stone Mountain and its surroundings date back into prehistory. When the mountain was first encountered by European explorers, its summit was encircled by a rock wall, similar to that still to be found on Georgia's Fort Mountain. The wall is believed to have been built by early Native American inhabitants of the area, although its purpose remains unclear. By the beginning of the 20th century, the wall had disappeared, the rocks having been taken away by early visitors as souvenirs, rolled down the rockface, or removed by the commercial quarrying operation. The mountain was the eastern end of the Campbellton Trail, a Native American path that ran through what is now the Atlanta area.

Europeans first learned of the mountain in 1567, when Spanish explorers were told of a mountain farther inland which was "very high, shining when the sun set like a fire."[further explanation needed] By this time, the Stone Mountain area was inhabited by the Creek and (to a lesser extent) Cherokee peoples.

In the early 19th century, the area was known as Rock Mountain. After the founding of DeKalb County and the county seat of Decatur in 1822, Stone Mountain was a natural recreation area; it was common for young couples on dates to ride to the mountain on horseback. The mountain is easy to climb and there has been a path since the nineteenth century.

Entrepreneur Aaron Cloud built a 165 foot (50 m) wooden observation tower at the summit of the mountain in 1838, but it was destroyed by a storm and replaced by a much smaller tower in 1851. Visitors to the mountain would travel to the area by rail and road, and then walk up the 1.1-mile (1.8 km) mountaintop trail to the top, where Cloud also had a restaurant and club.

Granite quarrying started at Stone Mountain in the 1830s, but became a major industry following the completion of a railroad spur to the quarry site in 1847. This line was rebuilt by the Georgia Railroad in 1869. Over the years, Stone Mountain granite was used in many buildings and structures, including the locks of the Panama Canal, the steps to the East Wing of the United States Capitol and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. In recent years, granite suppliers in Georgia sent stone samples cut from Stone Mountain to the group responsible for planning the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C.; the foundation later chose to use granite imported from China.[59] Quarrying during earlier periods also destroyed several spectacular geological features on Stone Mountain, such as the Devil's Crossroads, which was located on top of the mountain.

In 1887, Stone Mountain was purchased for $45,000 by the Venable Brothers of Atlanta, who quarried the mountain for 24 more years, and descendants of the Venable family would retain ownership of the mountain until it was purchased by the State of Georgia in 1958.

Martin Luther King Jr. mentioned the monument in his "I Have a Dream" speech at the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, when he said "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!"[60]

During the 1996 Summer Olympics, Stone Mountain Park provided venues for Olympic events in tennis, archery and track cycling.[61][62] The venues for archery and cycling were temporary and are now part of the songbird and habitat trail.[63]

Some of the outdoor scenes for the Netflix series Stranger Things were filmed in the park.[64]

Aviation incidents edit

According to George Weiblen's annotated calendar for Monday, May 7, 1928: "Mail plane crashed on mountain at 8:00 P.M."[citation needed] The pilot, Johnny S. Kytle (1905–1931), not only survived the crash, but managed to grab the mail and walk down the mountain.[citation needed]

Around dusk on September 16, 2003, in clear weather, a small airplane circled the mountain five times, crashed headlong into the south side, and burst into flames. The pilot was killed. A witness testifying at the NTSB investigation stated that the pilot, a 69-year-old accountant, had threatened on multiple occasions to commit suicide by flying into the mountain. The official NTSB accident report lists the probable cause as "The pilot's intentional flight into the ground for the purpose of suicide while impaired by alcohol."[65]

Governance edit

Stone Mountain Park, which surrounds the Confederate Memorial, is owned by the state of Georgia and managed by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, a Georgia state authority. As of August, 2022, the board entered a 10-year contract (with the option to renew for up to 30 years) with Thrive Attractions Management Group, LLC, to operate park attractions. The Stone Mountain Memorial Association retains ownership, while Thrive keeps 2% of the annual gross revenues from the park's hotels and 3% of gross revenues from other areas.[66]

From 1999 to 2022, park attractions were managed by Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation, which had a 30-year contract to operate attractions. Under terms of a 1999 agreement, Herschend paid the state of Georgia $11 million (~$18.3 million in 2022) annually, while the Stone Mountain Memorial Association had the right to reject any project deemed unfit. In 2018, Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation decided to end their contract early after only 20 years due to record losses in 2017 and 2018, citing decreased revenues and “protests and division” fueled by the park’s ubiquitous Confederate imagery as factors. Bids for a new management company for Stone Mountain Park were submitted in October 2021.[67] Thrive Attractions Management Group, LLC, started by the previous Vice President of Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation and general manager of Stone Mountain Park for 10 years, Michael Dombrowski, submitted the only bid to the Mountain Memorial Association, which was approved on May 23, 2022.[66]

Places of interest edit

 
Covered bridge at Stone Mountain

Confederate Hall, operated directly by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA), is a museum that educates students and park guests on the geology and ecology of Stone Mountain as well as historical aspects of the area. A small theater shows a historical documentary about the Civil War in Georgia called The Battle for Georgia.

The education department is host to thousands of students each school year, teaching the subjects of geology, ecology, and history. Classes are designed to meet the Georgia Performance Standards and the North American Association for Environmental Education guidelines.

The Antebellum Plantation and Farmyard is an open-air museum composed of 19 historic buildings, built between 1790 and 1875, that have been re-erected on the site to represent a pre-Civil War Georgia plantation. The historic houses have been furnished with an extensive collection of period furniture and decorations. The farm features a petting zoo.

 
Carillon at Stone Mountain Park, January 2012

A grist mill dates from 1869 and was moved to the park in 1965. A covered bridge dates from 1892 and originally spanned the Oconee River in Athens, Georgia.[68]

The park provides daily concerts on a large carillon that originated at the 1964 New York World's Fair. The instrument consists of 732 bell-tone rods, electronically amplified through 60 speakers in a decorative 13-story structure.[69]

Broadcast tower edit

 
Pavilion and transmitting tower at the summit of Stone Mountain

The short broadcast tower on the top of the mountain transmits two non-commercial stations: television station WGTV TV 8, and weather radio station KEC80 on 162.55 MHz. FM radio station WABE FM 90.1 was located on this tower from 1984 until 2005, when it was required to relocate to accommodate WGTV's digital conversion.[citation needed] W266BW FM 101.1 now has a permit as well. Atop the tower also sits the W4BOC amateur radio repeater, which operates on a frequency of 146.760 MHz. The tower is also used for the park's Project 25 two-way radio systems.[70][71]

Scenic railroad edit

Main article: Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad

Stone Mountain trails edit

 
Stone Mountain walk-up trail
 
Stone Mountain riverboat

Walk Up Trail is a 1.3-mile (2.1 km) trail to the top of Stone Mountain ascending 786 ft (240 m) in elevation to a height of 1,686 ft (514 m). The trail is steep, but spectacular panoramic views and cool winds await hikers at the top.

Cherokee Trail is an 8-mile (13 km) National Recreation Trail.[72] It loops around the mountain base, with a mile section going up and over the west side of the mountain (crosses Walk Up Trail). It passes primarily through an oak-hickory forest, but views of the lakes, streams, and mountain are common.

Nature Garden Trail is a scenic 3⁄4 mile (1.2 km) loop trail through a mature oak-hickory forest community, it is excellent for viewing shade-loving native plants. A small garden with interpretive native plant signs is at the entrance to the trail.

Songbird Habitat Trails comprise two loop trails each running 1 mile (1.6 km). The field trail is a birding spot and the woodland trail provides shade and numerous native plants. Dogs are not allowed.

Park attractions edit

The park features several attractions that are operated by Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation. The Skyride, a Swiss-built cable car to the summit of the mountain, passes by the carving on the way up.

Historic Square is a collection of historic buildings relocated from around the state of Georgia, including three plantation houses dating from 1794, 1850 and 1845; two slave cabins; a barn; and other outbuildings. The Historic Square Farmyard features historic breeds of sheep, goats and pigs. Atlanta architect James Means, investor Christie Bell Kennedy, and antiques dealer Kenneth Garcia chose, moved, arranged, altered, and decorated the buildings between 1960 and 1963. Modeled after Colonial Williamsburg, the commercial concession originally opened as the "Antebellum Plantation."[73]

Crossroads is a recreation of an 1872 Southern town with several attractions that include a modern 4-D movie theater, an adventure mini-golf course and a duck-tour ride. The duck boats have been replaced by the Rockin’ Land and Lake Tour in 2019 due to several deaths in other locations caused by duck-boat accidents.[74] The tour includes a ride on a double-decker open-top bus and a pontoon boat ride at the marina. There are stores and restaurants. Craft demonstrators include glass blowing and candy-making.

The Dinotorium is a children's activity area that features 65 interactive games, climbing structures, trampoline floors and slides. Sky Hike is a family ropes adventure course; Geyser Towers is a playground featuring a large fountain at the entrance.

On summer evenings, the mountain hosts the Stone Mountain Laser Show Spectacular, a fireworks and laser lighting display. The laser light show projects images of the Deep South as well as Georgia history onto the Confederate Memorial carving. During Memorial Day Weekend of 2011, Stone Mountain unveiled its overhaul of the laser show, dubbed Mountainvision, which incorporates digital projections, lasers, special effects, and pyrotechnics.[75]

Video (documentary) edit

Monument: The Untold Story of Stone Mountain is a 2022 documentary made by the Atlanta History Center.[76][77]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ Julio was an American born in Saint Helena in 1843 who emigrated to the U.S. in 1860. He died in 1879.

References edit

  1. ^ "Stone Mountain 2008-04-22 at the Wayback Machine." georgia.gov, retrieved February 2007.
  2. ^ "What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America’s Largest Confederate Memorial? 2018-05-28 at the Wayback Machine." "smithsonianmag.com," retrieved May 2018.
  3. ^ Shah, Khushbu (October 24, 2018). "The KKK's Mount Rushmore: the problem with Stone Mountain". The Guardian. from the original on October 24, 2018. Retrieved October 24, 2018.
  4. ^ Stewart, Bruce (October 31, 2016). "Stone Mountain". New Georgia Encyclopedia. from the original on June 16, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  5. ^ Suggs, Ernie (January 15, 2017). "Birth of an idea: Where the King monument on Stone Mountain came from". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved May 30, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d e McKinney, Debra (February 10, 2018). "Stone Mountain. A Monumental Dilemma". Intelligence Report. Southern Poverty Law Center (164): 18–22. from the original on July 7, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  7. ^ . www.stonemountainpark.com. Archived from the original on May 24, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  8. ^ "New Georgia Encyclopedia: Granite Outcrops". Georgiaencyclopedia.org. January 7, 2005. Retrieved December 18, 2012.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Scheffel, Richard L.; Wernet, Susan J., eds. (1980). Natural Wonders of the World. United States of America: Reader's Digest Association, Inc. p. 358. ISBN 0-89577-087-3.
  10. ^ Herrmann, L.A. 1954. Geology of the Stone Mountain-Lithonia District, Georgia. Georgia Geological Survey Bulletin 61. Atlanta, GA.
  11. ^ Grant, W.H. 1962. Field excursion, Stone Mountain-Lithonia district. Georgia Geologic Survey Guidebook 2. Atlanta, Georgia
  12. ^ Skeletal Tourmaline, Undercooling, and Crystallization History of the Stone Mountain Granite, Georgia, U.S.A., Kristen M. Longfellow and Samuel E. Swanson (incomplete ref)
  13. ^ "Species Profile for Little amphianthus (Amphianthus pusillus)". ecos.fws.gov. from the original on August 7, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  14. ^ "Species Profile for Black Spored quillwort (Isoetes melanospora)". ecos.fws.gov. from the original on February 18, 2018. Retrieved May 6, 2019.
  15. ^ Winslett, Larry and Julie (2004). Wildflowers of Stone Mountain a field guide. Dahlonega, Georgia: Bright Hawk Press. ISBN 0-9755633-0-0.
  16. ^ Boissoneault, Lorraine (August 22, 2017). . Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on August 22, 2017. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  17. ^ . The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. July 10, 2018. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  18. ^ McKay, Rich (July 3, 2020). . Reuters. Archived from the original on July 3, 2020. Retrieved May 26, 2021.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Freeman, David B. (1997). Carved in Stone : The History of Stone Mountain. Mercer University Press. ISBN 0865545472.
  20. ^ a b Stone Mountain collection, 1915-1977. Manuscript Collection No. 95. Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Emory University. emory.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-25.
  21. ^ "About Luigi Del Bianco |". from the original on July 5, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  22. ^ Pilitowski, Tom. . U.S. Rare Coin Investments. The authorized issue was 5 million coins, to be sold at $1 each, but only 1.3 million coins released. Archived from the original on November 20, 2018. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
  23. ^ a b Stewart, Bruce E. (2004). "Stone Mountain". New Georgia Encyclopedia. from the original on April 5, 2018. Retrieved June 4, 2018.
  24. ^ Winter, Don (May 10, 1970). "'Lost Cause' Survives Sectional Furor, Artistic Strife". The Atlanta Constitution. p. 21. Retrieved July 31, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "History". Stone Mountain Park. stonemountainpark.org. from the original on August 26, 2017. Retrieved August 25, 2017.
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  27. ^ Davis, Mark (July 2, 2015). "Flag causes flap at Stone Mountain". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  28. ^ Corson, Pete. "Photos: Confederate memorials in metro Atlanta". Atlanta Journal-Constitution. from the original on December 11, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  29. ^ Boissoneault, Lorraine (August 22, 2017). "What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America's Largest Confederate Memorial? The Georgia landmark is a testament to the enduring legacy of white supremacy". Smithsonian Magazine. from the original on September 18, 2018. Retrieved September 28, 2018.
  30. ^ "Historic Square". Stone Mountain Guide. from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved August 3, 2021.
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  33. ^ . Time. April 9, 1965. Archived from the original on August 19, 2008. An itinerant Methodist preacher named William Joseph Simmons started up the Klan again in Atlanta in 1915. Simmons, an ascetic-looking man, was a fetishist on fraternal organizations. He was already a "colonel" in the Woodmen of the World, but he decided to build an organization all his own. He was an effective speaker, with an affinity for alliteration; he had preached on "Women, Weddings and Wives," "Red Heads, Dead Heads and No Heads," and the "Kinship of Kourtship and Kissing." On Thanksgiving Eve 1915, Simmons took 15 friends to the top of Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, built an altar on which he placed an American flag, a Bible and an unsheathed sword, set fire to a crude wooden cross, muttered a few incantations about a "practical fraternity among men," and declared himself Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.
  34. ^ Gray, Heather (October 4, 2017). "Part Two: Atlanta and the Klan 1982 – interview with James Venable". Justice Initiative International. from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  35. ^ Patsy Sims (1996). The Klan. University Press of Kentucky. p. 247. ISBN 0-8131-0887-X.
  36. ^ "Russell v. Venable". Justia. from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  37. ^ a b c d e f Sharpe, Joshua (August 23, 2017). "The last time the KKK tried to burn a cross on Stone Mountain..." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
  38. ^ Petrella, Christopher (March 30, 2016). "On Stone Mountain". Boston Review. from the original on August 23, 2018. Retrieved August 27, 2018.
  39. ^ a b "Stone Mountain Carving". Ngeorgia.com. from the original on January 26, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  40. ^ Shaff, Howard & Audrey arl Shaff, Six Wars at a Time: the life and times of Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mt. Rushmore, The Center For Western Studies, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1985 p. 207
  41. ^ "Confederate Half Dollar". xroads.virginia.edu. from the original on March 25, 2016. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  42. ^ "The Last Meeting". Encyclopediavirginia.org\accessdate=1 September 2017. from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 16, 2017.
  43. ^ "Debate brewing over Stone Mountain Park's Confederate flags". from the original on August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015..
  44. ^ Foody, Kathleen (July 25, 2015). . Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 28, 2015."
  45. ^ Reynolds, Jacob (August 17, 2017). "Georgia State Law Makes It Difficult to Completely Remove or Hide Confederate Monuments". WMAZ. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
  46. ^ "A monument to MLK will crown Stone Mountain - Political Insider blog". Politics.blog.ajc.com. from the original on September 28, 2017. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
  47. ^ Suggs, Ernie (October 15, 2015). "Civil rights groups oppose King monument on Stone Mountain". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. from the original on May 27, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  48. ^ "NAACP, Confederate groups oppose Stone MTN. Plan". Al. October 14, 2015. from the original on May 5, 2019. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
  49. ^ Schachar, Natalie (August 15, 2015). "Jindal seeks to block removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans". Los Angeles Times. from the original on August 17, 2017. Retrieved August 17, 2017.
  50. ^ Bidgood, Jess; Bloch, Matthew; McCarthy, Morrigan; Stack, Liam; Andrews, Wilson (August 16, 2017). "Confederate Monuments Are Coming Down Across the United States". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 18, 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  51. ^ "U.S. cities step up removal of Confederate statues, despite Virginia". Reuters. August 16, 2017. from the original on February 28, 2021. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  52. ^ "The Week: After Charlottesville, eyes turn to Stone Mountain". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. August 18, 2017. from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
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  60. ^ King, Martin Luther Jr (August 28, 1963). "I have a Dream". Lillian Goldman Law Library. from the original on July 2, 2011. Retrieved October 8, 2011. let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
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  64. ^ "Georgia Locations for Netflix's 'Stranger Things'". Deep South Magazine. Deep South Media. July 28, 2016. from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved January 1, 2017. Georgia's small towns outside of Atlanta, including Douglasville, Conyers, Jackson, Winston and Fayetteville, easily pass for the Midwest, and Jackson's intact downtown isn't a far stretch from 1983 Hawkins on film.
  65. ^ NTSB Accident Report: Stone Mountain 2006-06-18 at the Wayback Machine, 16 September 2003.
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  67. ^ Tyler Estep, For the AJC. "Stone Mountain Park board names finalist". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Retrieved October 25, 2021.
  68. ^ Seibert, David. "Stone Mountain Covered Bridge". GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac. Digital Library of Georgia. from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
  69. ^ Gay, Gale Horton (March 19, 2014). . Champion Newspaper (DeKalb County). Archived from the original on November 3, 2021. Retrieved November 3, 2021.
  70. ^ Stone Mountain Park Memorial Association system: WPRF799 (public safety) 2015-04-14 at the Wayback Machine FCC website
  71. ^ Stone Mountain Park Memorial Association system: WNAU431 (businesses) 2015-10-18 at the Wayback Machine FCC website
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  73. ^ Herrington, Philip Mills; Brandt, Lydia Mattice (2022). ""The 1960s Antebellum Plantation at Stone Mountain, Georgia"". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 81 (1): 63–84. doi:10.1525/jsah.2022.81.1.63. S2CID 247984635 – via Project Muse.
  74. ^ Sharpe, Joshua (July 20, 2019). "Stone Mountain Park suspends duck boats after Missouri tragedy". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  75. ^ "Stone Mountain Park Debuts New Lasershow Spectacular™ in Mountainvision This Summer – STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga., March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/". Prnewswire.com. March 21, 2011. from the original on July 26, 2014. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  76. ^ "The truth about Stone Mountain's giant Confederate memorial. A new documentary explains how the vast carving in Georgia really got there". The Economist. January 12, 2023.
  77. ^ Atlanta History Center (2022), 'Monument': The Untold Story of Stone Mountain. Atlanta History Center explores the controversial history of the Stone Mountain carving through a documentary film and online resources

Further reading edit

  • Boissoneault, Lorraine (August 22, 2017). "What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America's Largest Confederate Memorial?". Smithsonian.
  • Fausset, Richard (October 18, 2018). "Stone Mountain: The Largest Confederate Monument Problem in the World". The New York Times.
  • Freeman, David (1997). Carved in Stone: The History of Stone Mountain. Mercer University Press. ISBN 9780865545472.
  • Golden Ink. "Stone Mountain". . Archived from the original on March 5, 2007. Retrieved October 15, 2018.
  • Hollis, Tim (2009). Stone Mountain Park. Images of America. Arcadia. ISBN 978-0738568232.
  • Hudson, Paul Stephen, and Laura Pond Mirza (2011). Atlanta's Stone Mountain: A Multicultural History[full citation needed]
  • Loewen, James W. (1999). Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong. New Press. ISBN 1-56584-344-4.
  • . Stone Mountain Park. Stone Mountain Memorial Association. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
  • Yost, Deborah (1997). Georgia's Stone Mountain Park. Aerial Photography Services, Inc. ISBN 1-880970-11-2.

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stone Mountain Park, Georgia.
 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Stone Mountain.
  • Monument: The Untold Story of Stone Mountain
  • Atlanta, Georgia, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary
  • City of Stone Mountain, Georgia, from the City of Stone Mountain
  • Stone Mountain article, from the New Georgia Encyclopedia
  • Stone Mountain Park and City Information
  • Stone Mountain Park website
  • Stone Mountain Park guide, with current and historical photos
  • , Stone Mountain Park
  • View from the top of Stone Mountain looking Northeast (1934)[permanent dead link] and Granite Quarry at Stone Mountain (1913)[permanent dead link] from the Georgia Geological Survey photographs in the collection of the .
  • Stone Mountain Granite Corporation – Producers and Manufacturers Stone Mountain Light Gray Granite For Building Work – Dorian Gray For Mausoleums and Monuments & Stone Mountain Granite Corporation Granite Price List, circa 1914 (Office, quarries, and finishing plant located at Stone Mountain, Georgia)
  • Southeast Granite Company – Stone Mountain Granite Memorial/Monumental Stones Catalog (1920s)
  • Shades of Gray: The Changing Focus of Stone Mountain Park
  • Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Stone Mountain collection, 1915-1977

December 18, 2023
stone, mountain, this, article, about, mountain, state, georgia, nearby, city, georgia, other, uses, disambiguation, quartz, monzonite, dome, monadnock, site, park, miles, east, atlanta, georgia, outside, park, small, city, georgia, park, most, visited, touris. This article is about the mountain in the U S state of Georgia For the nearby city see Stone Mountain Georgia For other uses see Stone Mountain disambiguation Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park 16 miles 26 km east of Atlanta Georgia Outside the park is the small city of Stone Mountain Georgia The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia Stone MountainThe mountain viewed from a distanceHighest pointElevation1 686 ft 514 m Prominence825 ft 251 m Coordinates33 48 21 40 N 84 8 43 52 W 33 8059444 N 84 1454222 W 33 8059444 84 1454222GeographyStone MountainStone Mountain Georgia United StatesTopo mapUSGS Stone Mountain GeorgiaThe park is owned by the state of Georgia At its summit the elevation is 1 686 feet 514 m above sea level and 825 feet 251 m above the surrounding area Stone Mountain is well known for not only its geology but also the enormous rock relief on its north face the largest bas relief artwork in the world 1 The carving completed in 1972 depicts three Confederate leaders Jefferson Davis Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson 2 3 Stone Mountain once owned by the Venable Brothers 4 was seen from the outset as a memorial to the Confederacy 5 Stone Mountain Park officially opened on April 14 1965 100 years to the day after Lincoln s assassination 6 although the park had already been in use for a few years 7 The mountain top and SkyrideThe mountain which ranges in composition from quartz monzonite to granite and granodiorite is more than 5 miles 8 km in circumference at its base The summit of the mountain can be reached by a walk up trail on the west side of the mountain or by the Skyride aerial tram Contents 1 Geology 2 Natural history 3 Confederate Memorial Carving 3 1 The replica plantation 3 2 Involvement of the Ku Klux Klan 3 3 Proposed removal of the carving 4 History 4 1 Aviation incidents 4 2 Governance 5 Places of interest 5 1 Broadcast tower 5 2 Scenic railroad 5 3 Stone Mountain trails 5 4 Park attractions 6 Video documentary 7 See also 8 Notes 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External linksGeology edit nbsp Stone mountain through treesStone Mountain is a pluton a type of igneous intrusion Primarily composed of quartz monzonite the dome of Stone Mountain was formed during the formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains around 300 350 million years ago during the Carboniferous period part of the Appalachian Mountains 8 It formed as a result of the upwelling of magma from within the Earth s crust This magma solidified to form granite within the crust 5 to 10 miles 8 to 16 km below the surface The Stone Mountain pluton continues underground 9 miles 14 km at its longest point into Gwinnett County Numerous reference books and Georgia literature have dubbed Stone Mountain as the largest exposed piece of granite in the world 9 This misconception is most likely a result of misrepresentation by granite companies and early park administration Stone Mountain though often called a pink granite dome actually ranges in composition from quartz monzonite 10 to granite and granodiorite 11 The minerals within the rock include quartz plagioclase feldspar microcline and muscovite with smaller amounts of biotite and tourmaline The tourmaline is mostly black in color and the majority of it exists as optically continuous skeletal 12 crystals but much larger euhedral pegmatitic tourmaline crystals can also be found in the mountain s numerous cross cutting felsic dikes Embedded in the granite are xenoliths or pieces of foreign rocks entrained in the magma The granite intruded into the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont region during the last stages of the Alleghenian Orogeny which was the time when North America and North Africa collided Over time erosion eventually exposed the present mountain of more resistant igneous rock This intrusion of granite also gave rise to Panola Mountain and Arabia Mountain both in DeKalb County smaller outcroppings farther south of Stone Mountain nbsp High resolution panoramic view from the summit of Stone MountainNatural history edit nbsp South side of Stone Mountain from the Songbird Habitat and Trail in 2009 nbsp Summit of Stone Mountain Kennesaw Mountain center and Atlanta left in backgroundThe top of the mountain is a landscape of bare rock and rock pools and it provides views of the surrounding area including the skyline of downtown Atlanta often Kennesaw Mountain and on very clear days even the Appalachian Mountains On some days the top of the mountain is shrouded in a heavy fog and visibility may be limited to only a few feet The clear freshwater pools on the summit form by rainwater gathering in eroded depressions and are home to unusual clam shrimp and fairy shrimp The tiny shrimp appear only during the rainy season Through the process of cryptobiosis the tiny shrimp eggs or cysts can remain dormant for years in the dried out depressions awaiting favorable conditions These vernal pools are also home to several federally listed rare and endangered plant species such as black spored quillwort Isoetes melanospora and pool sprite also called snorkelwort Gratiola amphiantha 13 14 The mountain s lower slopes are wooded The rare Georgia oak was first discovered at the summit and several specimens can easily be found along the walk up trail and in the woods around the base of the mountain In the fall the Confederate yellow daisy Helianthus porteri flowers appear on the mountain growing in rock crevices and in the large wooded areas More than 120 wildflowers most of them native to the Southern Appalachians and including several rare or federally protected species have been identified on the mountain 15 nbsp Leaves of the Georgia oak nbsp Confederate yellow daisy Helianthus porteri nbsp Pool sprite Gratiola amphiantha nbsp Quillwort Isoetes melanospora Confederate Memorial Carving edit nbsp Close up of the memorial nbsp 1925 Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar design by Borglum nbsp U S postage stamp 1970 nbsp Advertisement for Stone Mountain in Dixie Highway magazine May 1925 nbsp Carving in progress in 1926The largest bas relief sculpture in the world the Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E Lee and Thomas J Stonewall Jackson on their favorite horses Blackjack Traveller and Little Sorrel respectively The sculpture was cut 42 feet 13 m deep into the mountain 16 measures 90 feet 27 m in height and 190 feet 58 m in width 17 and lies 400 feet 120 m above the ground 18 David Freeman writing on the origins of the memorial states Who first conceived of a Confederate memorial on the side of Stone Mountain has long been a matter of debate The written evidence points to Francis Ticknor a nineteenth century physician and poet from Jones County Georgia in an 1869 poem William H Terrell an Atlanta attorney and son of a Confederate veteran suggested it publicly on May 26 1914 in an editorial for the Atlanta Constitution 19 55 Three weeks later Georgian John Temple Graves editor of the New York American suggested it should have a 70 foot 21 m statue of Robert E Lee 19 56 The project was greatly advanced by C Helen Plane 20 a charter member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy UDC and first president and Honorary Life President of the Georgia State Division 19 57 After obtaining the approval of the Georgia UDC she set up the UDC Stone Mountain Memorial Association She chose the sculptor Gutzon Borglum for the project and invited him to visit the mountain although despite his Ku Klux Klan involvement 19 79 she would not shake his hand he was after all a Yankee 19 58 59 She met him at the Atlanta train station took him to her family s summer home Mont Rest at the foot of the mountain and introduced him to Sam Venable 19 59 an active Klan member and owner of the mountain Borglum also enlisted Luigi Del Bianco whom he would also involve in Mount Rushmore 21 Borglum s original plan was having five groups of figures sixty five mounted officers representing the states to be chosen by the states General Nathan Bedford Forrest and his cavalry some 700 to 1 000 figures each from 35 feet 11 m to 50 feet 15 m high In addition Borglum planned a room cut 60 feet 18 m into the mountain 320 feet 98 m wide and 40 feet 12 m high faced by 13 columns 19 59 60 Venable deeded the north face of the mountain to the UDC in 1916 on the condition that it complete a sizable Civil War monument in 12 years Finances as well as technical problems slowed progress The U S Mint issued a 1925 Commemorative silver U S half dollar bearing the words Stone Mountain as a fundraiser for the monument 22 This issue which required the approval of both the 1926 Congress and President Calvin Coolidge was the largest issue of commemorative coins by the U S government up to that time 19 81 Financial conflicts between Borglum and the Association led to his firing in 1925 19 85 Borglum destroyed his models claiming that they were his property but the Association disagreed and had a warrant issued for his arrest He was warned of the arrest and narrowly escaped to North Carolina whose governor Angus McLean refused to extradite him 19 89 though he could not return to Georgia The affair was highly publicized and there was much discussion and discord including discord between Sam Venable the Association and Association president Hollins Randolph 19 103 116 119 The face of Lee that Borglum had partially completed was blasted off the mountain in 1928 19 111 Borglum s next major project was Mount Rushmore After a number of sculptors turned them down 19 97 Augustus Lukeman took up the work in 1925 with a different smaller design Fundraising was even more difficult after the public debate and name calling and work stopped in 1928 In 1941 segregationist Governor Eugene Talmadge formed the Stone Mountain Memorial Association SMMA to continue work on the memorial but the project was delayed once again by the United States entry into World War II 1941 45 23 In response to the 1954 Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court ruling and the birth of the Civil Rights Movement in 1958 at the urging of segregationist Governor Marvin Griffin 6 21 the Georgia legislature approved a measure to purchase Stone Mountain at a price of 1 125 000 In 1963 Walker Hancock was selected to complete the carving and work began in 1964 The carving was dedicated in a ceremony on May 9 1970 24 The carving was completed by Roy Faulkner on March 3 1972 25 Faulkner in 1985 opened the Stone Mountain Carving Museum now closed on nearby Memorial Drive commemorating the carving s history 26 An extensive archival collection related to the project is now at Emory University with the bulk of the materials dating from 1915 to 1930 the finding aid provides a history of the project and an index of the papers contained in the collection 20 Four flags of the Confederacy are flown at the site 27 The Stone Mountain Memorial Lawn contains thirteen terraces one for each Confederate state Each terrace flies the flag that the state flew as member of the Confederacy 28 The replica plantation edit In 1963 there opened beneath the sculpture a replica plantation where slave quarters were described as neat and well furnished in promotional materials The slaves were called hands or workers and black actress Butterfly McQueen from Gone with the Wind was hired to guide and inform visitors 29 The park states that the plantation was inspired by Gone with the Wind 30 The plantation has been renamed Historic Square Involvement of the Ku Klux Klan edit nbsp William J Simmons founded the reborn Klan atop Stone Mountain in 1915 nbsp The Atlanta Constitution clipping Nov 28 1915 describing the Klan re establishment atop Stone MountainAccording to sociologist James W Loewen Stone Mountain was the sacred site to members of the second and third national klans 31 262 Loewen alleges that the rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan the second Klan was inspired by D W Griffith s 1915 Klan glorifying film The Birth of a Nation 32 It was followed in August by the highly publicized lynching of Leo Frank who had been convicted of murder in nearby Marietta Georgia Loewen further alleges that on November 25 of the same year Thanksgiving Day a small group including fifteen robed and hooded charter members of the new organization met at the summit of Stone Mountain to create a new iteration of the Klan Led by William J Simmons it included two elderly members of the original Klan As part of their ceremony they set up on the summit an altar covered with a flag opened a Bible and burned a 16 ft 4 9 m cross 6 20 33 James R Venable attended the 1915 revival of the KKK on top of Stone Mountain and later became an Imperial Wizard of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan which was one of the later KKK factions 34 He owned land at the base of the mountain that he had inherited from his ancestors and in October of 1923 he granted the Klan an easement with perpetual right to hold celebrations as they desired 35 However the property was condemned in 1960 at the behest of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association 36 The Klan also held cross burnings at the summit of the mountain on different occasions from 1915 onward 37 38 This practice came to an end in 1962 when the Klan attempted to hold a mountaintop cross burning in response to the NAACP holding its national convention in Atlanta 37 The Stone Mountain Memorial Association did not want either group using state property for demonstrations and convinced Governor Ernest Vandiver to order state troopers to stop the event 37 Seventy troopers attempted to stop several hundred Klansmen gathered at the base of the mountain from climbing to the summit but the Klansmen were armed with billy clubs flashlights and stones and greatly outnumbered the officers 37 The police negotiated a truce with the local Klan Grand Dragon under which the Klansmen would refrain from further violence but 20 of their number would be allowed to climb the mountain for a religious ceremony and the cross burning was substituted with the lighting of a flare 37 In August of 2017 the Klan was denied a permit for a mountaintop cross burning 37 Fundraising for the monument resumed in 1923 The influence of the UDC continued in support of Mrs Plane s vision of a carving explicitly for the purpose of creating a Confederate memorial She suggested in a letter to the first sculptor Gutzon Borglum I feel it is due to the Klan which saved us from Negro dominations sic and carpetbag rule that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain Why not represent a small group of them in their nightly uniform approaching in the distance 6 21 23 The UDC established the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association SMCMA for fundraising and on site supervision of the project Venable and Borglum both closely associated with the Klan arranged to pack the SMCMA with Klan members 39 The SMCMA along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy continued fundraising efforts Of the 250 000 3 34 million in 2022 raised part came from the federal government which in 1925 issued commemorative fifty cent coins with the soldiers Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson on them 40 The image on the verso of the coin was based on The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson 41 executed in 1869 by Everett B D Fabrino Julio a itself an icon of Lost Cause mythology it is now in the American Civil War Museum until 2012 the Museum of the Confederacy 42 When the state completed the purchase in 1960 it condemned the property to void Venable s agreement to allow the Klan perpetual right to hold meetings on the premises 39 Proposed removal of the carving edit See also Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials After the Charleston church shooting in mid 2015 Stone Mountain was the subject of a political debate related to the removal of symbols of the Confederacy 43 This controversy was stimulated by a movement in other states to remove the Confederate battle flag and statues of Confederate leaders from public areas The Confederate sculpture at Stone Mountain is the largest shrine to white supremacy in the history of the world I don t think people understand the objective and the intent They don t understand that it s based on white supremacy because the American Civil War was based on white supremacy and the heroes are based on white supremacy After the killings at Emanuel Church in Charleston it finally crystallized for me that these monuments encourage violence and validate oppression President of the NAACP Richard Rose 6 In July 2015 the Atlanta NAACP proposed removing the Confederate carving from Stone Mountain Park 44 However this would require the approval of the Georgia Legislature as would any change to a military monument in the state 45 On October 11 2015 The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported the park was considering a proposal of a permanent Freedom Bell honoring Martin Luther King Jr and the line Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia from King s 1963 I Have a Dream speech 46 The proposed monument is inspired by a bell ringing ceremony held in 2013 honoring the 50th anniversary of King s speech It is not supported by the NAACP or King founded Southern Christian Leadership Conference SCLC who want the Confederate symbols removed rather than a King symbol added 47 Advance Local reported in 2015 that both the DeKalb County branch of the NAACP and the Sons of Confederate Veterans were opposed to the bell because it would have been put next to a Confederate monument Representatives of the NAACP were quoted in the article saying It s an attempt to gain support from blacks to keep these racist and demeaning symbols 48 needs update In August 2017 after the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville Virginia a white nationalist protest against the removal of the Robert E Lee monument and Stonewall Jackson sculpture turned violent many people across the country again demanded the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials as part of a national political debate 49 50 51 Georgia State Representative and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams called for the removal by sandblasting of Stone Mountain s carving 52 53 She called it a blight upon our state 54 55 On July 5 2020 100 to 200 armed protesters came to Stone Mountain to call for the carving s removal 56 Known as the Not Fucking Around Coalition NFAC it was a protest against both overt and systemic racism calling out white supremacists with the location being chosen in part due to its history as the place where the Ku Klux Klan was re formed 57 On August 15 2020 the park administration temporarily closed its gates in reaction to a gathering of white nationalists planned there and the city s public buses were suspended for the day Nevertheless a fight broke out downtown between the gatherers clarification needed downtown and counter protesters with no injuries reported 58 History edit nbsp Stone Mountain c 1910 nbsp Grist Mill from 1869 at Stone Mountain nbsp Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad depot 1971Human habitation of Stone Mountain and its surroundings date back into prehistory When the mountain was first encountered by European explorers its summit was encircled by a rock wall similar to that still to be found on Georgia s Fort Mountain The wall is believed to have been built by early Native American inhabitants of the area although its purpose remains unclear By the beginning of the 20th century the wall had disappeared the rocks having been taken away by early visitors as souvenirs rolled down the rockface or removed by the commercial quarrying operation The mountain was the eastern end of the Campbellton Trail a Native American path that ran through what is now the Atlanta area Europeans first learned of the mountain in 1567 when Spanish explorers were told of a mountain farther inland which was very high shining when the sun set like a fire further explanation needed By this time the Stone Mountain area was inhabited by the Creek and to a lesser extent Cherokee peoples In the early 19th century the area was known as Rock Mountain After the founding of DeKalb County and the county seat of Decatur in 1822 Stone Mountain was a natural recreation area it was common for young couples on dates to ride to the mountain on horseback The mountain is easy to climb and there has been a path since the nineteenth century Entrepreneur Aaron Cloud built a 165 foot 50 m wooden observation tower at the summit of the mountain in 1838 but it was destroyed by a storm and replaced by a much smaller tower in 1851 Visitors to the mountain would travel to the area by rail and road and then walk up the 1 1 mile 1 8 km mountaintop trail to the top where Cloud also had a restaurant and club Granite quarrying started at Stone Mountain in the 1830s but became a major industry following the completion of a railroad spur to the quarry site in 1847 This line was rebuilt by the Georgia Railroad in 1869 Over the years Stone Mountain granite was used in many buildings and structures including the locks of the Panama Canal the steps to the East Wing of the United States Capitol and the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo In recent years granite suppliers in Georgia sent stone samples cut from Stone Mountain to the group responsible for planning the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial in Washington D C the foundation later chose to use granite imported from China 59 Quarrying during earlier periods also destroyed several spectacular geological features on Stone Mountain such as the Devil s Crossroads which was located on top of the mountain In 1887 Stone Mountain was purchased for 45 000 by the Venable Brothers of Atlanta who quarried the mountain for 24 more years and descendants of the Venable family would retain ownership of the mountain until it was purchased by the State of Georgia in 1958 Martin Luther King Jr mentioned the monument in his I Have a Dream speech at the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom when he said let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia 60 During the 1996 Summer Olympics Stone Mountain Park provided venues for Olympic events in tennis archery and track cycling 61 62 The venues for archery and cycling were temporary and are now part of the songbird and habitat trail 63 Some of the outdoor scenes for the Netflix series Stranger Things were filmed in the park 64 Aviation incidents edit According to George Weiblen s annotated calendar for Monday May 7 1928 Mail plane crashed on mountain at 8 00 P M citation needed The pilot Johnny S Kytle 1905 1931 not only survived the crash but managed to grab the mail and walk down the mountain citation needed Around dusk on September 16 2003 in clear weather a small airplane circled the mountain five times crashed headlong into the south side and burst into flames The pilot was killed A witness testifying at the NTSB investigation stated that the pilot a 69 year old accountant had threatened on multiple occasions to commit suicide by flying into the mountain The official NTSB accident report lists the probable cause as The pilot s intentional flight into the ground for the purpose of suicide while impaired by alcohol 65 Governance edit Stone Mountain Park which surrounds the Confederate Memorial is owned by the state of Georgia and managed by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association a Georgia state authority As of August 2022 the board entered a 10 year contract with the option to renew for up to 30 years with Thrive Attractions Management Group LLC to operate park attractions The Stone Mountain Memorial Association retains ownership while Thrive keeps 2 of the annual gross revenues from the park s hotels and 3 of gross revenues from other areas 66 From 1999 to 2022 park attractions were managed by Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation which had a 30 year contract to operate attractions Under terms of a 1999 agreement Herschend paid the state of Georgia 11 million 18 3 million in 2022 annually while the Stone Mountain Memorial Association had the right to reject any project deemed unfit In 2018 Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation decided to end their contract early after only 20 years due to record losses in 2017 and 2018 citing decreased revenues and protests and division fueled by the park s ubiquitous Confederate imagery as factors Bids for a new management company for Stone Mountain Park were submitted in October 2021 67 Thrive Attractions Management Group LLC started by the previous Vice President of Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation and general manager of Stone Mountain Park for 10 years Michael Dombrowski submitted the only bid to the Mountain Memorial Association which was approved on May 23 2022 66 Places of interest editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed December 2023 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp Covered bridge at Stone MountainConfederate Hall operated directly by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association SMMA is a museum that educates students and park guests on the geology and ecology of Stone Mountain as well as historical aspects of the area A small theater shows a historical documentary about the Civil War in Georgia called The Battle for Georgia The education department is host to thousands of students each school year teaching the subjects of geology ecology and history Classes are designed to meet the Georgia Performance Standards and the North American Association for Environmental Education guidelines The Antebellum Plantation and Farmyard is an open air museum composed of 19 historic buildings built between 1790 and 1875 that have been re erected on the site to represent a pre Civil War Georgia plantation The historic houses have been furnished with an extensive collection of period furniture and decorations The farm features a petting zoo nbsp Carillon at Stone Mountain Park January 2012A grist mill dates from 1869 and was moved to the park in 1965 A covered bridge dates from 1892 and originally spanned the Oconee River in Athens Georgia 68 The park provides daily concerts on a large carillon that originated at the 1964 New York World s Fair The instrument consists of 732 bell tone rods electronically amplified through 60 speakers in a decorative 13 story structure 69 Broadcast tower edit nbsp Pavilion and transmitting tower at the summit of Stone MountainThe short broadcast tower on the top of the mountain transmits two non commercial stations television station WGTV TV 8 and weather radio station KEC80 on 162 55 MHz FM radio station WABE FM 90 1 was located on this tower from 1984 until 2005 when it was required to relocate to accommodate WGTV s digital conversion citation needed W266BW FM 101 1 now has a permit as well Atop the tower also sits the W4BOC amateur radio repeater which operates on a frequency of 146 760 MHz The tower is also used for the park s Project 25 two way radio systems 70 71 Scenic railroad edit Main article Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad Stone Mountain trails edit nbsp Stone Mountain walk up trail nbsp Stone Mountain riverboatWalk Up Trail is a 1 3 mile 2 1 km trail to the top of Stone Mountain ascending 786 ft 240 m in elevation to a height of 1 686 ft 514 m The trail is steep but spectacular panoramic views and cool winds await hikers at the top Cherokee Trail is an 8 mile 13 km National Recreation Trail 72 It loops around the mountain base with a mile section going up and over the west side of the mountain crosses Walk Up Trail It passes primarily through an oak hickory forest but views of the lakes streams and mountain are common Nature Garden Trail is a scenic 3 4 mile 1 2 km loop trail through a mature oak hickory forest community it is excellent for viewing shade loving native plants A small garden with interpretive native plant signs is at the entrance to the trail Songbird Habitat Trails comprise two loop trails each running 1 mile 1 6 km The field trail is a birding spot and the woodland trail provides shade and numerous native plants Dogs are not allowed Park attractions edit The park features several attractions that are operated by Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation The Skyride a Swiss built cable car to the summit of the mountain passes by the carving on the way up Historic Square is a collection of historic buildings relocated from around the state of Georgia including three plantation houses dating from 1794 1850 and 1845 two slave cabins a barn and other outbuildings The Historic Square Farmyard features historic breeds of sheep goats and pigs Atlanta architect James Means investor Christie Bell Kennedy and antiques dealer Kenneth Garcia chose moved arranged altered and decorated the buildings between 1960 and 1963 Modeled after Colonial Williamsburg the commercial concession originally opened as the Antebellum Plantation 73 Crossroads is a recreation of an 1872 Southern town with several attractions that include a modern 4 D movie theater an adventure mini golf course and a duck tour ride The duck boats have been replaced by the Rockin Land and Lake Tour in 2019 due to several deaths in other locations caused by duck boat accidents 74 The tour includes a ride on a double decker open top bus and a pontoon boat ride at the marina There are stores and restaurants Craft demonstrators include glass blowing and candy making The Dinotorium is a children s activity area that features 65 interactive games climbing structures trampoline floors and slides Sky Hike is a family ropes adventure course Geyser Towers is a playground featuring a large fountain at the entrance On summer evenings the mountain hosts the Stone Mountain Laser Show Spectacular a fireworks and laser lighting display The laser light show projects images of the Deep South as well as Georgia history onto the Confederate Memorial carving During Memorial Day Weekend of 2011 Stone Mountain unveiled its overhaul of the laser show dubbed Mountainvision which incorporates digital projections lasers special effects and pyrotechnics 75 Video documentary editMonument The Untold Story of Stone Mountain is a 2022 documentary made by the Atlanta History Center 76 77 See also editList of colossal sculpture in situ Stone Mountain Memorial half dollarNotes edit Julio was an American born in Saint Helena in 1843 who emigrated to the U S in 1860 He died in 1879 References edit Stone Mountain Archived 2008 04 22 at the Wayback Machine georgia gov retrieved February 2007 What Will Happen to Stone Mountain America s Largest Confederate Memorial Archived 2018 05 28 at the Wayback Machine smithsonianmag com retrieved May 2018 Shah Khushbu October 24 2018 The KKK s Mount Rushmore the problem with Stone Mountain The Guardian Archived from the original on October 24 2018 Retrieved October 24 2018 Stewart Bruce October 31 2016 Stone Mountain New Georgia Encyclopedia Archived from the original on June 16 2020 Retrieved June 29 2020 Suggs Ernie January 15 2017 Birth of an idea Where the King monument on Stone Mountain came from Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on December 11 2018 Retrieved May 30 2018 a b c d e McKinney Debra February 10 2018 Stone Mountain A Monumental Dilemma Intelligence Report Southern Poverty Law Center 164 18 22 Archived from the original on July 7 2020 Retrieved July 6 2020 History Stone Mountain Park www stonemountainpark com Archived from the original on May 24 2020 Retrieved May 21 2020 New Georgia Encyclopedia Granite Outcrops Georgiaencyclopedia org January 7 2005 Retrieved December 18 2012 permanent dead link Scheffel Richard L Wernet Susan J eds 1980 Natural Wonders of the World United States of America Reader s Digest Association Inc p 358 ISBN 0 89577 087 3 Herrmann L A 1954 Geology of the Stone Mountain Lithonia District Georgia Georgia Geological Survey Bulletin 61 Atlanta GA Grant W H 1962 Field excursion Stone Mountain Lithonia district Georgia Geologic Survey Guidebook 2 Atlanta Georgia Skeletal Tourmaline Undercooling and Crystallization History of the Stone Mountain Granite Georgia U S A Kristen M Longfellow and Samuel E Swanson incomplete ref Species Profile for Little amphianthus Amphianthus pusillus ecos fws gov Archived from the original on August 7 2020 Retrieved May 6 2019 Species Profile for Black Spored quillwort Isoetes melanospora ecos fws gov Archived from the original on February 18 2018 Retrieved May 6 2019 Winslett Larry and Julie 2004 Wildflowers of Stone Mountain a field guide Dahlonega Georgia Bright Hawk Press ISBN 0 9755633 0 0 Boissoneault Lorraine August 22 2017 What Will Happen to Stone Mountain America s Largest Confederate Memorial Smithsonian Magazine Archived from the original on August 22 2017 Retrieved May 26 2021 50 things you might not know about Stone Mountain Park The Atlanta Journal Constitution July 10 2018 Archived from the original on November 11 2020 Retrieved May 26 2021 McKay Rich July 3 2020 The world s largest Confederate Monument faces renewed calls for removal Reuters Archived from the original on July 3 2020 Retrieved May 26 2021 a b c d e f g h i j k l m Freeman David B 1997 Carved in Stone The History of Stone Mountain Mercer University Press ISBN 0865545472 a b Stone Mountain collection 1915 1977 Manuscript Collection No 95 Stuart A Rose Manuscript Archives and Rare Book Library Emory University emory edu Retrieved 2017 08 25 About Luigi Del Bianco Archived from the original on July 5 2020 Retrieved July 3 2020 Pilitowski Tom Information about the Stone Mountain Half Dollar coin U S Rare Coin Investments The authorized issue was 5 million coins to be sold at 1 each but only 1 3 million coins released Archived from the original on November 20 2018 Retrieved August 23 2017 a b Stewart Bruce E 2004 Stone Mountain New Georgia Encyclopedia Archived from the original on April 5 2018 Retrieved June 4 2018 Winter Don May 10 1970 Lost Cause Survives Sectional Furor Artistic Strife The Atlanta Constitution p 21 Retrieved July 31 2020 via Newspapers com History Stone Mountain Park stonemountainpark org Archived from the original on August 26 2017 Retrieved August 25 2017 Pousner Howard June 16 1985 Stone Mountain s mass appeal also brings some tall problems Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on May 28 2018 Retrieved May 25 2018 Davis Mark July 2 2015 Flag causes flap at Stone Mountain Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on September 21 2018 Retrieved May 25 2018 Corson Pete Photos Confederate memorials in metro Atlanta Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on December 11 2018 Retrieved May 25 2018 Boissoneault Lorraine August 22 2017 What Will Happen to Stone Mountain America s Largest Confederate Memorial The Georgia landmark is a testament to the enduring legacy of white supremacy Smithsonian Magazine Archived from the original on September 18 2018 Retrieved September 28 2018 Historic Square Stone Mountain Guide Archived from the original on December 4 2020 Retrieved August 3 2021 Loewen James W 1999 Lies Across America What our Historic Sites Get Wrong The New Press ISBN 1565843444 A Painful Present as Historians Confront a Nation s Bloody Past Hartford hwp com Archived from the original on February 1 2017 Retrieved July 29 2014 The Various Shady Lives of the Ku Klux Klan Time April 9 1965 Archived from the original on August 19 2008 An itinerant Methodist preacher named William Joseph Simmons started up the Klan again in Atlanta in 1915 Simmons an ascetic looking man was a fetishist on fraternal organizations He was already a colonel in the Woodmen of the World but he decided to build an organization all his own He was an effective speaker with an affinity for alliteration he had preached on Women Weddings and Wives Red Heads Dead Heads and No Heads and the Kinship of Kourtship and Kissing On Thanksgiving Eve 1915 Simmons took 15 friends to the top of Stone Mountain near Atlanta built an altar on which he placed an American flag a Bible and an unsheathed sword set fire to a crude wooden cross muttered a few incantations about a practical fraternity among men and declared himself Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Gray Heather October 4 2017 Part Two Atlanta and the Klan 1982 interview with James Venable Justice Initiative International Archived from the original on June 24 2021 Retrieved June 21 2021 Patsy Sims 1996 The Klan University Press of Kentucky p 247 ISBN 0 8131 0887 X Russell v Venable Justia Archived from the original on June 24 2021 Retrieved June 21 2021 a b c d e f Sharpe Joshua August 23 2017 The last time the KKK tried to burn a cross on Stone Mountain The Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on June 24 2021 Retrieved June 21 2021 Petrella Christopher March 30 2016 On Stone Mountain Boston Review Archived from the original on August 23 2018 Retrieved August 27 2018 a b Stone Mountain Carving Ngeorgia com Archived from the original on January 26 2013 Retrieved July 29 2014 Shaff Howard amp Audrey arl Shaff Six Wars at a Time the life and times of Gutzon Borglum Sculptor of Mt Rushmore The Center For Western Studies Sioux Falls South Dakota 1985 p 207 Confederate Half Dollar xroads virginia edu Archived from the original on March 25 2016 Retrieved September 1 2017 The Last Meeting Encyclopediavirginia org accessdate 1 September 2017 Archived from the original on August 17 2017 Retrieved August 16 2017 Debate brewing over Stone Mountain Park s Confederate flags Archived from the original on August 10 2015 Retrieved August 11 2015 Foody Kathleen July 25 2015 The removal of the Confederate carving at Stone Mountain is seen as unlikely Associated Press Archived from the original on July 28 2015 Reynolds Jacob August 17 2017 Georgia State Law Makes It Difficult to Completely Remove or Hide Confederate Monuments WMAZ Retrieved November 10 2017 A monument to MLK will crown Stone Mountain Political Insider blog Politics blog ajc com Archived from the original on September 28 2017 Retrieved September 1 2017 Suggs Ernie October 15 2015 Civil rights groups oppose King monument on Stone Mountain The Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on May 27 2018 Retrieved May 25 2018 NAACP Confederate groups oppose Stone MTN Plan Al October 14 2015 Archived from the original on May 5 2019 Retrieved May 5 2019 Schachar Natalie August 15 2015 Jindal seeks to block removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans Los Angeles Times Archived from the original on August 17 2017 Retrieved August 17 2017 Bidgood Jess Bloch Matthew McCarthy Morrigan Stack Liam Andrews Wilson August 16 2017 Confederate Monuments Are Coming Down Across the United States The New York Times Archived from the original on August 18 2017 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint unfit URL link U S cities step up removal of Confederate statues despite Virginia Reuters August 16 2017 Archived from the original on February 28 2021 Retrieved August 20 2017 The Week After Charlottesville eyes turn to Stone Mountain The Atlanta Journal Constitution August 18 2017 Archived from the original on August 21 2017 Retrieved August 20 2017 Sack Kevin Blinder Alan July 28 2018 In Georgia Governor s Race a Defining Moment for a Southern State The New York Times Archived from the original on July 28 2018 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint unfit URL link Fausset Richard October 18 2018 Stone Mountain The Largest Confederate Monument Problem in the World The New York Times Archived from the original on July 5 2020 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint unfit URL link Shah Khushbu October 24 2018 The KKK s Mount Rushmore the problem with Stone Mountain The Guardian Archived from the original on October 24 2018 Retrieved October 24 2018 Armed protesters march through Georgia s Stone Mountain Park ABC News Associated Press July 5 2020 Archived from the original on July 5 2020 Retrieved July 5 2020 I m in your house Armed group condemns systemic and overt racism marches to Stone Mountain 11Alive com July 4 2020 Archived from the original on July 11 2021 Retrieved July 15 2020 Keenan Sean August 15 2020 Barred From a Confederate Shrine Protesters Scuffle in Georgia The New York Times Archived from the original on August 15 2020 Retrieved April 2 2021 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a CS1 maint unfit URL link Democracy in America American politics August 30 2011 Martin Luther King A blockheaded memorial The Economist Archived from the original on October 24 2012 Retrieved December 18 2012 King Martin Luther Jr August 28 1963 I have a Dream Lillian Goldman Law Library Archived from the original on July 2 2011 Retrieved October 8 2011 let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia 1996 Summer Olympics official report Archived 2008 05 28 at the Wayback Machine Volume 1 p 543 1996 Summer Olympics official report Archived 2007 09 27 at the Wayback Machine Volume 3 pp 448 453 Driving Map Stone Mountain Park 2009 Pamphlet Stone Mountain Georgia Stone Mountain Park Georgia Locations for Netflix s Stranger Things Deep South Magazine Deep South Media July 28 2016 Archived from the original on December 26 2016 Retrieved January 1 2017 Georgia s small towns outside of Atlanta including Douglasville Conyers Jackson Winston and Fayetteville easily pass for the Midwest and Jackson s intact downtown isn t a far stretch from 1983 Hawkins on film NTSB Accident Report Stone Mountain Archived 2006 06 18 at the Wayback Machine 16 September 2003 a b Estep Tyler New management partner approved for Stone Mountain Park The Atlanta Journal Constitution ISSN 1539 7459 Retrieved July 11 2023 Tyler Estep For the AJC Stone Mountain Park board names finalist The Atlanta Journal Constitution Retrieved October 25 2021 Seibert David Stone Mountain Covered Bridge GeorgiaInfo an Online Georgia Almanac Digital Library of Georgia Archived from the original on November 16 2016 Retrieved November 15 2016 Gay Gale Horton March 19 2014 Woods and hills are alive with music 732 bell carillon is Stone Mountain Park s hidden treasure Champion Newspaper DeKalb County Archived from the original on November 3 2021 Retrieved November 3 2021 Stone Mountain Park Memorial Association system WPRF799 public safety Archived 2015 04 14 at the Wayback Machine FCC website Stone Mountain Park Memorial Association system WNAU431 businesses Archived 2015 10 18 at the Wayback Machine FCC website Cherokee Trail Hike Information PDF Stone Mountain State Park Archived PDF from the original on July 11 2021 Retrieved March 20 2021 Herrington Philip Mills Brandt Lydia Mattice 2022 The 1960s Antebellum Plantation at Stone Mountain Georgia Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 81 1 63 84 doi 10 1525 jsah 2022 81 1 63 S2CID 247984635 via Project Muse Sharpe Joshua July 20 2019 Stone Mountain Park suspends duck boats after Missouri tragedy The Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on July 21 2018 Retrieved July 21 2018 Stone Mountain Park Debuts New Lasershow Spectacular in Mountainvision This Summer STONE MOUNTAIN Ga March 21 2011 PRNewswire Prnewswire com March 21 2011 Archived from the original on July 26 2014 Retrieved July 29 2014 The truth about Stone Mountain s giant Confederate memorial A new documentary explains how the vast carving in Georgia really got there The Economist January 12 2023 Atlanta History Center 2022 Monument The Untold Story of Stone Mountain Atlanta History Center explores the controversial history of the Stone Mountain carving through a documentary film and online resourcesFurther reading editBoissoneault Lorraine August 22 2017 What Will Happen to Stone Mountain America s Largest Confederate Memorial Smithsonian Fausset Richard October 18 2018 Stone Mountain The Largest Confederate Monument Problem in the World The New York Times Freeman David 1997 Carved in Stone The History of Stone Mountain Mercer University Press ISBN 9780865545472 Golden Ink Stone Mountain About North Georgia Archived from the original on March 5 2007 Retrieved October 15 2018 Hollis Tim 2009 Stone Mountain Park Images of America Arcadia ISBN 978 0738568232 Hudson Paul Stephen and Laura Pond Mirza 2011 Atlanta s Stone Mountain A Multicultural History full citation needed Loewen James W 1999 Lies Across America What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong New Press ISBN 1 56584 344 4 Ecosystem Stone Mountain Park Stone Mountain Memorial Association Archived from the original on October 4 2006 Retrieved July 24 2016 Yost Deborah 1997 Georgia s Stone Mountain Park Aerial Photography Services Inc ISBN 1 880970 11 2 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stone Mountain Park Georgia nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to Stone Mountain Monument The Untold Story of Stone Mountain Atlanta Georgia a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary City of Stone Mountain Georgia from the City of Stone Mountain Main Street Stone Mountain Stone Mountain article from the New Georgia Encyclopedia Stone Mountain Park and City Information Stone Mountain Park Photos Stone Mountain Park website Stone Mountain Park guide with current and historical photos Detailed history Stone Mountain Park View from the top of Stone Mountain looking Northeast 1934 permanent dead link and Granite Quarry at Stone Mountain 1913 permanent dead link from the Georgia Geological Survey photographs in the collection of the Georgia Archives Stone Mountain Granite Corporation Producers and Manufacturers Stone Mountain Light Gray Granite For Building Work Dorian Gray For Mausoleums and Monuments amp Stone Mountain Granite Corporation Granite Price List circa 1914 Office quarries and finishing plant located at Stone Mountain Georgia Southeast Granite Company Stone Mountain Granite Memorial Monumental Stones Catalog 1920s Shades of Gray The Changing Focus of Stone Mountain Park Stuart A Rose Manuscript Archives and Rare Book Library Emory University Stone Mountain collection 1915 1977 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Stone Mountain amp oldid 1189333109, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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