"Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park near Stone Mountain, Georgia. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet (514 m) above sea level and 825 feet (251 m) above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain is well known for not only its geology, but also the enormous rock relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world.[1] The carving depicts three Confederate figures, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and has been the subject of widespread controversy. "

Wonderful set of pictures. I never knew about the bas-relief carving on Stone Mountain. If we only put in history books what we liked or approved of, there would be some pretty thin history books that could probably be covered in a week's worth of classroom time. If it isn't there for us to read, how can we possibly learn from it?

Wikipedia:

Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park near Stone Mountain, Georgia. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet (514 m) above sea level and 825 feet (251 m) above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain is well known for not only its geology, but also the enormous rock relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world.[1] The carving depicts three Confederate figures, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson, and has been the subject of widespread controversy.

Stone Mountain was once owned by the Venable Brothers. It was purchased by the State of Georgia in 1958 "as a memorial to the Confederacy." Stone Mountain Park officially opened on April 14, 1965 – 100 years to the day after Lincoln's assassination. It is the most visited destination in the state of Georgia.[5]

Stone Mountain is more than 5 miles (8 km) in circumference at its base. The summit of the mountain can be reached by a walk-up trail on the west side of the mountain or by the Skyride aerial tram.

Geology

South side of Stone Mountain from the Songbird Habitat and Trail in 2009
Stone Mountain is a pluton, a type of igneous intrusion. Primarily composed of quartz monzonite, the dome of Stone Mountain was formed during the formation of the Blue Ridge Mountains around 300–350 million years ago (during the Carboniferous period), part of the Appalachian Mountains.[7] It formed as a result of the upwelling of magma from within the Earth's crust. This magma solidified to form granite within the crust five to ten miles below the surface.

The Stone Mountain pluton continues underground 9 miles (14 km) at its longest point into Gwinnett County. Numerous reference books and Georgia literature have dubbed Stone Mountain as "the largest exposed piece of granite in the world".[8] This misconception is most likely a result of misrepresentation by granite companies and early park administration. Stone Mountain, though often called a pink granite dome, actually ranges in composition from quartz monzonite[9] to granite and granodiorite.[10]

The minerals within the rock include quartz, plagioclase feldspar, microcline and muscovite, with smaller amounts of biotite and tourmaline. The tourmaline is mostly black in color, and the majority of it exists as optically continuous skeletal[11] crystals, but much larger, euhedral pegmatitic tourmaline crystals can also be found in the mountain's numerous, cross-cutting felsic dikes. Embedded in the granite are xenoliths or pieces of foreign rocks entrained in the magma.

The granite intruded into the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont region during the last stages of the Alleghenian Orogeny, which was the time when North America and North Africa collided. Over time, erosion eventually exposed the present mountain of more resistant igneous rock. This intrusion of granite also gave rise to Panola Mountain and Arabia Mountain, both in DeKalb County, smaller outcroppings farther south of Stone Mountain.

1925 Stone Mountain Memorial Half Dollar (design by Borglum)
Owned and paid for by the state of Georgia, Stone Mountain is the most-visited tourist attraction in the state.

Confederate Memorial:

The largest base-relief sculpture in the world, the Confederate Memorial Carving depicts three Confederate leaders of the Civil War: President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson (and their favorite horses, "Blackjack", "Traveller", and "Little Sorrel", respectively). The entire carved surface measures 1.57 acres (6,400 m2). The carving of the three men towers 400 feet (120 m) above the ground, measures 76 by 158 feet (23 by 48 m), and is recessed 42 feet (13 m) into the mountain. The deepest point of the carving is at Lee's right elbow, which is 12 feet (3.7 m) to the mountain's surface.


Hi,

Hope that you will enjoy the pictures of Stone Mountain, GA.