5 Things About The Confederate Carving At Stone Mountain

STONE MOUNTAIN, GA — Stone Mountain, the largest exposed piece of granite on Earth, has long been a natural wonder to Georgians and visitors alike. Located about 15 minutes from Atlanta, the mountain has been embroiled in controversy lately after a Georgia lawmaker and candidate for governor called for the Confederate monument carved on it to be removed.

The monument, the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world, features the three central figures of the Confederate war — Gens. Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Confederacy President Jefferson Davis. (Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app.)

Aside from those three central figures, the history of the carvings offers much to learn in this present time as cities grapple with what to do about their respective Confederate monuments and symbols. Here are five things about the Confederate monument that you might not have known.

The mountain was once owned by a family

The Venable family, which was in the rock quarry business, actually owned the mountain, according to Stone Mountain historians. The Venables had leanings in line with many people in the Old South back then, and in 1916 they deeded the north side of mountain to C. Helen Plane, a founding member of the the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Plane asked the family's permission to construct a fitting monument to the Civil War on the mountain, and the family obliged, giving her 12 years to complete the project.

The mountain's first sculptor quit

Famed sculptor Gutzon Borglum was hired to oversee the carving in 1915 but was not able to start until 1923 due to funding problems. He eventually completed the head of Lee, but a year later the project stalled after Borglum had differences with the managing association. He then left the project, taking some of his sketches and plans with him and destroying those he did not. He would later go on to sculpt Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Like us on Facebook

The mountain's second sculptor couldn't finish

Augustus Lukeman took over for Borglum in 1925, effacing his predecessor's work and forging three figures of the Confederate cause on horseback. Using pneumatic drills, Lukeman did the best he could, but the original deadline instituted by the Venable family caught up with him. The family reclaimed the mountain's northern face, and the massive artwork languished for more than three decades.

Read more: Confederate flag in Kennesaw vandalized

The state bought the mountain in the 1950s

The state of Georgia bought the mountain and surrounding parcels in 1958 and immediately went about commissioning artists who could finish the carving. In 1963, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association chose Walker Kirkland Hancock of Gloucester, Massachusetts, to do the job. Hancock's chief artist, Roy Faulkner, was a Marine who was prolific at sculpting with thermo-jet torches, a cutting-edge technique at the time.

The carving was finished in 1972, nearly 50 years from its start

The Confederate Memorial Carving was dedicated at a ceremony on May 9, 1970. Finishing touches were completed two years later.

Jimmy Venable, longtime Decatur lawyer, proud Ku Klux Klansman and relative of the Venable family, is on record as saying that Borglum's original carving — if he hadn't have gotten mad and left — would have surpassed what is presently there.

"Well, I’m not satisfied with the monument, Borglum is the only person that could have finished that mountain," Venable said in 1982. "It’s a disgrace, but the public don’t know it. It’s a Roman horse. He’s cut his legs off at his knees — it’s not Traveler [Lee’s horse].

"Borglum’s monument was real Traveler, the horse was. It is a disgrace to our society, but the public don’t understand it. .... Borglum’s monument would have been an everlasting attraction for the world. He’s now mounted on his horse; he had a real Traveler horse there. Borglum’s monument and his sketches,
it would have been a thing that would have attracted the world in art had he been left alone and allowed to finish the monument there."

Bonus: The Klan was revived there in 1915

Something you won't find on the city of Stone Mountain's website is that the mountain is the site of the revival of the KKK after it was nearly stamped out at the start of the 20th century. William J. Simmons, a Methodist preacher, purportedly inspired by the racist film "The Birth of a Nation," led a small group of white supremacists up the mountain in celebration of the movie's debut in Atlanta, according to several historical accounts. Among their commemorations was the burning of a cross.

Mayor To Form Panel To Decide On Atlanta's Confederate Street Names

Confederate Flag In Kennesaw Continues To Be Vandalized: Report

Correction: The Klan was revived in 1915, not 2015 as was previously stated.

Image via Stone Mountain Park / U.S. Park Service