Stone Mountain

I had never heard of Stone Mountain until a few years ago. Why? Your guess is as good as mine. Except that I have to point out that almost everyone in America knows about Mount Rushmore or has seen pictures of it and I think it's safe to say that not as many people know about Stone Mountain. It was high on our list of things to see while we were in Atlanta. So, we made a day trip out of it.

I don't want to bore you with history, but since I didn't know anything about this granite carving, let me sum up some of the things I learned. A charter member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), Helen Plane, was the first person to discuss this carving. Gutzon Borglum started the carving, and after his contract was cancelled, he went to South Dakota and carved Mount Rushmore. Another sculptor, Augustus Lukeman took over and blasted Borglum's carving out and set out to carve Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis into the face of the mountain. He only finished Davis and Lee before the project was halted again. Almost 50 years after the idea was brought forward by Ms. Plane, carving finally continued and was completed under the watch of Walter Hancock and Roy Faulkner. You can go to this Stone Mountain History page to see more if you'd like. The home page would give you more information on all there is to do in the park itself these days.

As for the chosen three to be in this carving...(I should be having my in-laws write this portion...they know much more than I do about The Confederacy and The Civil War...I hope I don't disappoint them here!) Robert E. Lee...most know was a General in the Confederate Army. Well, I learned he was also a West Point Grad, joined the U.S. Army, and married the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington (from her first marriage). When the Southern Confederacy was formed, after secession had started, Lee was asked to join their military. He declined until he was faced with fighting his home state of Virginia when they voted in favor of the secession. So, he resigned from his current position and within days became General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate Army. From that point on, you get into Civil War history and most of us know that after a long war, he and his troops surrendered.

As an officer in the Confederacy, Robert E. Lee served as an advisor to Jefferson Davis. He was the one and only elected President of the Confederacy. That's right. (I never knew this!) Abraham Lincoln was President wasn't he? Well, yes...if you were from the North and if that is what you have been taught through your education. But if you were from the South, Jefferson Davis was your president. He was even elected, not self-appointed. How civil. Anyway, he was also a West Point Grad and also served in the U.S. Military. He married a daughter of a General and future president (Zachary Taylor), before she got sick and died and he re-married later. He also served in the U.S. Senate and as Secretary of War.

Finally, Stonewall Jackson...Stonewall was a nickname for him. Thomas was a bit more common, so why not be known as Stonewall if you could? Anyway, he also was a West Point Grad and in the military before the secession. Then he wanted to be a teacher. However, when the secession happened, he joined the Confederate Army and served under Robert E. Lee. He ended up dying by friendly fire.

Now, on to our day at Stone Mountain...

First we went in the memorial hall to learn a little history of the monument. To give you an idea of how big the carving is, we took Fletcher's picture by General Lee's collar and stars and then also in the mouth of one of the horses.

If you can't read the picture above, it is comparing Stone Mountain with other monuments. Stone Mountain (the carving) is 76 feet high, Mount Rushmore (the carving) is 60 feet high, The Great Sphinx is 66 feet high, The Colossal Buddha is 46 feet high, and towering over all of them...The Statue of Liberty is 151 feet high. (I have been to 4 out of 5 of these! But I don't remember Mount Rushmore.)

After wandering around in there for awhile, we headed over to the Skyride to take a cable car to the top of Stone Mountain (1,683 feet above sea level). We ran into some Germans and practiced a bit of German. Then we took turns taking pictures of each other. Holden was very clingy to me, so I sat with him on top of the mountain. He ended up falling asleep. Fletcher liked looking for rocks and throwing them in the puddles of water. It was a beautiful, clear day to spend on top of a mountain.

Here are some pictures taken from the Skyride on the way down.

Then we found a viewing spot to eat lunch that I had packed for all of us to share.

At the time we were there, they had turned Stone Mountain into Snow Mountain...they brought in man-made snow for kids and families to go sledding on and play in. We opted out of that because we're pretty sure it wouldn't have lasted all that long.

Holden stayed asleep on one of us for a couple hours. He was also getting warmer and warmer as the day went on. We weren't quite sure about what was going on, but we could tell he wasn't feeling too swift. Poor little guy. Fletcher was having fun just running around and eating and watching people and pointing out trash cans. He was not having fun when I forced him to be in our family picture.