by Willard Neal $2.00 This is a view of Stone Mountain before the carving....

Every traveler, on first viewing Stone Mountain, has stood in awe at the foot of the looming monolith. Seasoned tourists and Georgia school children are affected just as pioneer explorers were. The towering rock is so impressive that each individual feels he is making the great discovery. Questions arise. How did Stone Mountain come to be? How old is it, and how high? Exactly how large is this biggest carving in the world. How was it done? Who did it? Who first saw Stone Mountain? What effects h

Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson ride forever on Stone Mountain. Stone Mountain’s Confederate Memorial is the world’s largest piece of sculpture, cut into the side of the world’s biggest exposed mass of granite. The carving is 90 feet tall and 190 feet wide, stands eleven and a half feet out from the side of the mountain, and towers 400 feet above the ground in a frame that is 360 feet square, or three acres. Fifty-five years elapsed from the

A field of Viguiera porteri , or Confederate daisies. White milkweed, Asclepeas variegata . Rare Hypericum splendens . Evening primrose, Oenothera fruticosa . Rosa Carolinia . Practically every square foot of exposed granite is covered with lichens or mosses. All the mountain’s early visitors were intrigued by the pre-historic wall. Some thought de Soto might have had it built, without considering that the aim of the conquistadores was to find treasure, grab it and run. They were not interested

If you wish to see a Hypericum splendens , you will look for it on the steep slopes of Stone Mountain. This little hardwood shrub, about three feet tall with bright yellow blossoms, is found nowhere else on earth—not even on the similar, but lesser, granite outcrops of the area, in DeKalb and Rockdale Counties. The Hypericums grow thickest in tiny crevices about halfway up the mountain and most are on the southwest side. None are found at the top nor the bottom. The saucy little golden blossoms

Stone Mountain, sixteen miles east of Atlanta, is the world’s largest exposed granite monolith. It is as great a wonder to geologists today as it was to Indian medicine men of ancient times. While geologists know how it was formed and what it is made of, they still are amazed at its tremendous size, its wonderful symmetry and its location, high and alone on a gently rolling plateau over thirty miles from its nearest mountain neighbor. This mountain is a perfect example of the unbelievably powerf

Scenes from the formal dedication of the Stone Mountain Memorial Carving, May, 1970. Top left : 20,000 guests attended the ceremonies. Center left : Georgia Senator Herman Talmadge (L) and Stone Mountain Mayor Randolph Medlock. Center : Young bandsmen from across the state participated in day-long musical events. Right : Georgia Secretary of State Ben W. Fortson, Jr. was chairman of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association during the dedication year. Lower : The Vice President and his party arriv