Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, Keystone, SD

This is Mount Rushmore National Memorial at Keystone. It is situated in the Black Hills region of the Pennington county of South Dakota state.

This is a gigantic sculpture carved in the granite rock of a mountain. It features faces of four significant and historic presidents of the US - George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.
It was carved by two sculptors, Gutzon Borglum and his son Lincoln Borglum.

Now, the obvious question arises, from where did the name Mount Rushmore come? This memorial was named so because, the mountain was at that time known as Mount Rushmore after a New York based lawyer Charles Rushmore. In 1885, he was investigating some mining claims in the Black Hills region. During that time, he visited and hiked these mountains many times every year. That's how people around him, along with the locals started calling this mountain after his name and it was recognized so in the official records too. Before this official name the mountain was known locally as Slaughterhouse mountain or Keystone cliffs. Later, when the sculptors chose this mountain for carving the heads of four famous presidents, Charles Rushmore donated 5000 dollars for the cause.
Isn't it an interesting name story?

Grand view Pavillion 

Along with the memorial, we also visited a huge pavilion built in front of it to give the perfect views, a sculptors museum, where the original models and ideas are preserved.

Avenue of Flags 

One more nice attraction we liked was the Avenue of Flags, after entering through the huge gateway while going towards the memorial, flags of all the US states line the path. The site also consists of many hiking trails around the mountains.

Memorial from the Avenue of Flags 

This memorial project was originally planned in ordered to increase tourism in the Black Hills region. This concept was accomplished and it became a great success as millions of tourists visit here every year.
We visited this memorial in summer, which is the most appropriate time to be there.
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