A Very American Monument
Mt Rushmore represents the best and worst of the U.S.A.
Ken Burns subtitled his documentary on America’s national parks, “America’s Best Idea.” The famous documentarian has a point. The United States helped pioneer the protection of natural and historic treasures for enjoyment in the present and preservation for the future.
America’s National Park System contains a remarkable array of wonders, a testament to the history, diversity, and beauty of the country. It contains such varied marvels as the endangered ecosystem of the Everglades, the towering beauty of Mt. Rainier, the magnificent forests of Redwood and Sequoia National Parks, and places where history happened like Valley Forge.
But do you know which unit of the park system gets more visitors than any of the iconic locations listed above? It’s the one where we blew up a mountain until it looked like the faces of some dead guys.
That’s right, Mount Rushmore gets 2.4 million visitors a year. That’s a lot of people choosing to drive across the plains — far from any major cities, not particularly close to any other major tourist attractions — to get a look at four big heads carved into the mountain. It’s perhaps the most classically American kind of road-trip destination: you drive hours and hours on an interstate, stopping only for…