The Ultimate Guide To Mount Rushmore National Memorial
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is an iconic landmark of South Dakota, a sculpture carved into the mountains in the Black Hills in Keystone, South Dakota. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum created it over a period of fourteen years. The sculpture features 60-foot heads of four US Presidents – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. The four presidents were chosen, respectively, to represent the birth, the growth, the development, and the preservation of the United States.
Address: 13000 SD-244, Keystone, SD 57751, Entrance Fee: No entrance fee, but there’s a parking fee of $10 per vehicle.
Best Way To Explore Mount Rushmore
The Avenue of Flags
The Avenue of Flags is the main pathway leading you to the Grand View Terrace, the main viewing area. However, the Avenue of Flags by itself is very impressive and eye-catching, a pathway greeting visitors with pillars and flags of all 50 states and union territories of the US.
Grand View Terrace
This is the main viewing area offering a front view of the mesmerizing Mount Rushmore; few stairs from the Grand View Terrace will lead you to the seating area for the amphitheater, where you could sit and admire this man-made marvel.
Presidential Trail
It’s a paved trail, a 45 minutes walk, starting at the Grand View Terrace and leading to the viewing area at the base of the mountain, taking you up-close to the sculpture.
Evening Sculpture Lighting Ceremony
I highly recommend attending the Sculpture lighting ceremony, held every night at 9 PM, May – September. The parking tickets are valid for a day, so you could come back in the evening to witness the lighting ceremony. There’s a short ranger-led program, and a brief history talk about the sculpture, followed by turning on the lights to illuminate the sculpture and the national anthem.
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