We decided to rent the audio tour wands so we could listen to fun facts as we walked around the monument. For example, all of the states, commonwealths, districts and territories of the United States donated flags which are hung along the Avenue of Flags leading up to the Grand View Terrace.
When we arrived at the Grand View Terrace, we were just in time to see a young Lakota dancer perform a hoop dance. Hoop dancing is a form of storytelling dance incorporating anywhere from one to 30 or more hoops, which are used to create images of animals like the butterfly, eagle, snake and coyote. It was fascinating to watch as she transformed the hoops into various shapes.
By the time we reached the amphitheater below the monument, it was lunchtime. We packed a lunch so we could avoid waiting in long lines at the cafe. Here is the view from our picnic bench.
After lunch, we went into the Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center to watch a short documentary on the construction of the monument. Lincoln Borglum was the son of the sculpter, Gutzon Borglum. He finished the monument after his father passed away and was appointed Mount Rushmore National Memorial's first superintendent. Inside the Visitor Center, there are lots of exhibits on the construction process. Here Kathy examines some of the early plaster forms.
The original plan for the monument was to include the torsos of the presidents. After Gutzon Borglum died, Lincoln Borglum had to abandon his father's ambitious plans to carry the work down to include the torsos due to a lack of funding. Here is a clay model of what the monument would have looked like if the work was funded to completion.
In addition to the torsos, the plans for a "Hall of Records" was tabled. The original idea was to create a repository for the story of our country for future civilizations. When Dave visited the monument with his sister, Maggie, back in 1984, they were able to tour the Hall of Records, which at that time, consisted of an empty chamber carved in a canyon behind the faces. While the grand plan of a complete hall of records was never completed, in 1998, sixteen porcelain enamel panels containing the text from the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, along with a biography of Borglum, and the story of the Presidents, were sealed in a teakwood box, then placed in a titanium vault, and finally sealed shut under the weight of a 1,200 pound granite capstone. Tours are no longer offered to the Hall of Records due to public safety concerns. Here is a photo from the National Park website.
It was a little disappointing not being able to actually see the Hall of Records. It would have been fun to poke around and look for the entrance to the City of Gold from the movie National Treasure 2. We consoled ourselves by continuing with our audio tour. We hiked around the Presidential Trail which took us right under the Presidents' noses. To make them all fit on the mountain, each President looks in a different direction.
As we continued our tour, we passed a number of historical relics like the worker's trail, the old compressor house and the sculptor's studio. Inside the studio is the final 1:12 scale model of the monument. Every inch on the model equals one foot on the monument. We listened for a short while as the park ranger talked about the sculpting process.
We finished our tour and began our drive over to the Crazy Horse Memorial. As we left the park, we drove around the backside of Mount Rushmore and got one last glimpse of the monument.
The End!
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