Stone Mountain

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Image:Stone Mountain.jpg Image:Stone-mountain2.jpg Image:Sm skyride.JPG This article is about the Stone Mountain in Georgia, USA. For other uses, see Stone Mountain (disambiguation).

Stone Mountain is a large granite mountain located in Stone Mountain, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. It is the world's largest exposed piece of granite and one of the largest monoliths in the world, behind Mount Augustus in Australia, and comparable to Haystack Rock on the Oregon coast. At its summit, the elevation is 1683 feet or 513 meters AMSL, about double that of the surrounding area. It is considered to be one of the Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia. The mountain is surrounded by Stone Mountain Park, a 3,200 acre Georgia State Park.

It is well-known not only for its geological status, but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. Three figures of the Confederate States of America are carved there: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis. The mountain was the site of the founding of the second Ku Klux Klan in 1915, and the Klan was intimately involved in the design, financing, and early construction of the monument.

1 Geology
2 History
3 Stone Mountain today
4 References
5 External links

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Geology

Stone Mountain is an igneous intrusion exposed when the surrounding softer rock eroded away, a feature known as a "pluton". Primarily composed of granite, the dome of Stone Mountain was formed some 300 million years ago, during the formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the eastern edge or front range of the Appalachian Mountains. It was formed by a weak upwelling of magma from the aesthenosphere that remained well below the earth's crust, forming an uplifted dome. Analysis shows that the magma was made up of mica, quartz, feldspar, microcline and muscovite, with smaller amounts of biotite and tourmaline. Embedded in the granite are pieces of gneiss and amphibolite.

The exact geological history of the formation is still a matter of some controversy. Most geologists believe that the entire Piedmont region was higher than the mountain and that over time, erosion of softer overlying sedimentary strata eventually exposed the present mountain of more resistant igneous rock, in processes similar to those that have shaped Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

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History

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History

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 is still unclear. Sadly 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 for fun, or removed by the commercial quarrying operation.

Europeans first learned of the mountain in 1597, when Spanish explorers were told of a mountain further inland which was "very high, shining when the sun set like a fire." By this time, the Stone Mountain area was inhabited by the Creek and (to a lesser extent) Cherokee peoples. In 1790 the mountain was the site of a meeting initiated by President George Washington in hopes of negotiating a peace treaty with the Creek. Instead a series of wars ensued, and the Creek were forced to cede the land to the state of Georgia in 1821.

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 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. Unfortunately, quarrying 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 would continue to quarry the mountain for 24 more years, and descendents of the Venable family would retain ownership of the mountain until it was purchased by the State of Georgia in the 1950s.

Image:Gutzon-borglum.jpg

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History of the memorial and the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan activities at Stone Mountain are deep-rooted, although the original conception of the memorial pre-dates the 1915 revival of the Klan. The idea had originated in 1909, when many Americans were celebrating the centennial of Abraham Lincoln's birth. Mrs. C. Helen Plane of the United Daughters of the Confederacy was the prime mover in the creation of a monument at Stone Mountain. Sam Venable asked Gutzon Borglum to speak to Plane. Borglum had a preliminary model finished by 1917, but World War I distracted potential patrons.

Image:William-joseph-simmons.jpg The revival of the Ku Klux Klan was emboldened by the release of D. W. Griffith's Klan-glorifying film The Birth of a Nation, and by the lynching of Leo Frank, who was accused of the murder of Mary Phagan. On November 25, 1915, a group of robed and hooded men met at Stone Mountain to create a new edition of the Klan, which had been dormant since it was suppressed by the federal government during Reconstruction. They were led by William J. Simmons, and they included a group calling itself the Knights of Mary Phagan. A cross was burned, and the oath was administered by Nathan Bedford Forrest II, the grandson of the original Imperial Grand Wizard, ex-Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, and was witnessed by the owner of Stone Mountain, Samuel Venable. (In reaction to this history, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech includes the line "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.")

Image:Confederate-soldier-coin.jpg Fundraising for the monument resumed in 1923, and in October of that year, Venable granted the Klan easement with perpetual right to hold celebrations as they desired. Because of their deep involvement with the early fund-raising and their increasing political clout in Georgia, the Klan, along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy, were able to influence the ideology of the carving, and they strongly supported an explicitly Confederate memorial. Gutzon Borglum became a Klan member himself in the course of his association with the Stone Mountain project. Of the $250,000 raised, part came directly from the Ku Klux Klan, but part came from the federal government, which in 1924 issued special fifty-cent coins with Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on them.

With an unrealistic three year time limit imposed on the project, Borglum set to work, and by General Lee's birthday in 1924, a formal unveiling of Lee's finished head was attended by a large and appreciative audience. In 1925, Borglum became involved in disputes with his patrons over the coin money and his support of D. C. Stephenson, and his contract was canceled in February. Before he left Georgia, Borglum smashed his preliminary models in rage. He went on to carve Mount Rushmore.

In April 1925 Augustus Lukeman was hired to complete the work, and three years later Borglum's finished work was dynamited from the face of the mountain. Funds ran dry, however, and he had only completed Lee's head when the project was cancelled due to lateness and insufficient funds in 1928. When Lukeman died in 1935, the uncompleted project had not been worked on for several years.

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Recent history

In 1958, at the urging of Governor Marvin Griffin, the Georgia legislature approved a measure to purchase Stone Mountain for $1,125,000. In 1963, Walker Kirkland Hancock was selected to complete the carving, and work began in 1964. The carving was finally completed in 1970 by Roy Faulkner, who later operated a museum (now closed) on nearby Memorial Drive commemorating the carving's history.

The Klan held a major meeting at Stone Mountain in 1975, and at Venable's invitation, the Klan held annual Labor Day meetings on Venable's property, where 60-foot crosses were burned.

Guides at the monument originally wore Confederate gray, but in recent years the state has changed the mountain into a state park and a commercial attraction involving a laser show and nature walks, and the park's web site does not mention the Ku Klux Klan at all.

In order to remove the perpetual easement granted to the Klan, the state took the highly unusual step of condemning its own land. Once condemned, all legal rights to use the land lay only with the state, and the state subsequently reestablished the park. Since this action, no Klan meetings have been held on the property.

During the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Stone Mountain Park provided venues for Olympic events in archery, tennis, and cycling.

On September 16, 2003, a small airplane crashed [1] around dusk into the back of the mountain, a remote cliff area which is not normally accessible. The pilot, the airplane's only occupant, was confirmed dead, and although the official accident report notes no probable cause, a witness "stated that the accident pilot threatened on multiple occasions when she knew him to commit suicide by flying into Stone Mountain." Firefighters had to take the skylift up and then rappel more than halfway down to the site of the wreckage. According to George Weiblen's annotated calendar for Monday, 7 May, 1928: "Mail plane crashed on mountain at 8:00 P.M." The only other known crash on the mountain was in 1957.

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Stone Mountain today

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The mountain

Image:Quercus-georgiana.jpg Stone Mountain is 1,683 feet above sea level, and 825 feet above the surrounding plateau. The mountain is more than five miles in circumference at its base. The summit of the mountain can be reached by an attractive but steep walkup trail, which leaves from near the Confederate Hall and park entrance. Alternatively the summit can be reached by the skylift (see below).

The top of the mountain is a surreal landscape of bare rock and rock pools, and provides views of the surrounding area and the skyline of downtown Atlanta, often Kennesaw Mountain, and on very clear days even the Appalachian Mountains. The clear freshwater pools of the summit are formed by rainwater gathering in eroded depressions, and are home to unusual clam shrimps and fairy shrimps. The tiny shrimps appear only during the rainy season, and it is believed that the adult shrimp die when the pools dry up, leaving behind eggs to survive until the next rains.

The mountain's lower slopes are wooded. Amongst the trees found here is the rare Georgia oak, which was first discovered here. Several specimens of which can be easily found along the walk-up trail and in the woods around the base of the mountain. In the fall, the extremely rare Confederate Yellow Daisy (Viguiera Porteri) flowers on the mountain, growing in rock crevices and in the wooded areas.

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The carving

The carving depicts Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis on horse-back, apparently riding in a group from right to left across the mountain side. The lower parts of the horses' bodies merge into the mountainside at the foot of the carving. The three riders are shown bare-headed and holding their hats to their chests. Originally, the carving was to include the armies marching behind them.

The entire carved surface measures three acres (12,000 m²) and recedes 42 feet (13 m) into the mountain. The carving of the three mounted figures is 400 feet (120 m) above the surrounding plain, 90 feet (27 m) high and 190 feet (58 m) wide. At its deepest point, Lee's elbow extends 12 feet (4 m) from the mountain surface behind it.

A laser light show has been projected on the carving nightly in the summer since 1983. The show is 40-45 minutes long and culminates with fireworks. The show runs nightly from Memorial Day to Labor Day, on Saturdays from mid March through October, plus Fridays in May and August. A short Christmas laser show is shown multiple times a night through December.

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The park

Stone Mountain Park surrounds the Confederate memorial, and is one of three Georgia state parks which are privately operated. The park is owned by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, a Georgia state authority, but the Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation currently has the contract to operate the park and its attractions.

The Confederate Hall, operated directly by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association, is a museum that educates park guests and local students on the geology and ecology of Stone Mountain, together with the history of the war in Georgia. Image:Stone mountain carillon2.jpg

Other attractions are operated by the commercial operators, and include:

The Skylift, a Swiss built cable-car to the summit of the mountain, passes by the carving on the way up.
The Scenic Railroad, a full scale railroad which circles the entire circumference of the mountain in a loop, giving views of the mountain en route. For years the railroad utilized three authentic steam locomotives to pull trains, however in the mid-1980s the steam locomotives were retired in favor of diesels, due to maintenance costs.
The Riverboat offers a scenic cruise aboard a reproduction Mississippi riverboat on 363-acre Stone Mountain Lake.
The Antebellum Plantation and Farmyard is comprised of original buildings, built between 1790 and 1845, which have been re-erected here to represent a pre-Civil War Georgia plantation.
A 732-bell carillon that originated at the 1964 New York World's Fair, provides a daily concert.
A covered bridge, dating from 1892, which originally spanned the Oconee River in Athens, Georgia.
A grist mill, dating from 1869 and moved to the park in 1965.
"Crossroads", a recreation of an 1880s southern town.