Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore’s visage has been seen by the world over in images and popular culture, but few know the story of how it originally came to be. The sculptures of four different US presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Rosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) were carved into the granite hillside of Mount Rushmore, a rocky batholith in South Dakota.
The Mount Rushmore National Memorial (U.S. National Park Service) in Keystone, South Dakota, United States, is seen on July 8, 2018. Sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln were carved into granite in the Black Hills where the project took place from 1927 to 1941. 90% of the carving involved the use of dynamite. (Photo by Patrick Gorski/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
The sculptor behind the project was initially Gutzon Borglum, who oversaw the project until his death in 1941. His son, Lincoln Borglum, took over the project, and it was completed that same year.