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{{Short description|Mountain and park in Georgia, United States}}
{{About|the mountain in the U.S. state of Georgia|the nearby city|Stone Mountain, Georgia|other uses|Stone Mountain (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2021}}{{Infobox mountain
| name = Stone Mountain
| photo = Stone Mountain Aerial (43835979545).jpg
| photo_caption = Aerial view of Stone Mountain
| elevation_ft = 1686
| elevation_ref =
| prominence_ft = 825
| prominence_ref =
| listing = [[List of mountains in Georgia (U.S. state)|Mountains of Georgia]]
| location = [[Stone Mountain, Georgia|Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States]]
| map = USA Georgia
| coordinates = {{coord|33|48|21.40|N|84|8|43.52|W|type:mountain_region:US-GA_scale:100000|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref = 
| topo = [[United States Geological Survey|USGS]] Stone Mountain, Georgia
| first_ascent =
| easiest_route =
}}

'''Stone Mountain''' is a [[quartz monzonite]] dome [[Inselberg|monadnock]] and the site of '''Stone Mountain Park''', {{convert|15|miles|km}} east of [[Atlanta]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. Outside the park is the city of [[Stone Mountain, Georgia]]. The park is the most visited tourist site in the state of Georgia.

Stone Mountain, once owned by the [[Venable Brothers]],<ref name="Venable Brothers">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain |last=Stewart |first=Bruce |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia |contribution=Stone Mountain |date=31 October 2016 |access-date=29 June 2020 |archive-date=16 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616153342/https://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain |url-status=live}}</ref>  was purchased by the state of Georgia in 1958 "as a memorial to the Confederacy."<ref name="Birth">{{Cite news |last=Suggs |first=Ernie |url=https://www.myajc.com/news/local/birth-idea-where-the-king-monument-stone-mountain-came-from/HFpAfVTvdwvTXR4Td6UjHP/ |title=Birth of an idea: Where the King monument on Stone Mountain came from |date=January 15, 2017 |newspaper=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=May 30, 2018 |archive-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211010134/https://www.myajc.com/news/local/birth-idea-where-the-king-monument-stone-mountain-came-from/HFpAfVTvdwvTXR4Td6UjHP/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=History of Stone Mountain Park |url=https://www.stonemountainmanor.com/history-of-stone-mountain-park |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Stone Mountain Manor {{!}} Bed and Breakfast {{!}} Inn {{!}} Vacation Rental {{!}} Stone Mountain, GA |language=en-US}}</ref> Stone Mountain Park officially opened on April 14, 1965 – 100 years to the day after [[Assassination of Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's assassination]],<ref name="McKinney">{{Cite journal |last=McKinney |first=Debra |date=February 10, 2018 |title=Stone Mountain. A Monumental Dilemma |journal=[[Intelligence Report]] |issue=164 |pages=18–22 |publisher=[[Southern Poverty Law Center]] |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2018/stone-mountain-monumental-dilemma |access-date=2020-07-06 |archive-date=2020-07-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707191010/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2018/stone-mountain-monumental-dilemma |url-status=live}}</ref> although recreational use of the park had been ongoing for several years prior.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.stonemountainpark.com/About/History |title=History – Stone Mountain Park |website=www.stonemountainpark.com |access-date=May 21, 2020 |archive-date=May 24, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200524184139/https://www.stonemountainpark.com/About/History |url-status=dead}}</ref> The park today is owned by the state of [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]. 

[[File:Skyrides on Stone Mountain.jpg|thumb|The mountain top and Skyride]]
[[File:Stone Mountain Park Drone Footage - 2022.webm|thumbtime=12|thumb|Drone footage of Stone Mountain, 2022]]
The mountain, which ranges in composition from [[quartz monzonite]] to granite and [[granodiorite]], is more than {{convert|5|miles}} 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]]. 

At its summit, the [[elevation]] is {{convert|1,686|ft}} [[AMSL|above sea level]] and {{convert|825|ft}} 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]] artwork in the world.<ref name="GeorgiaGov">"[http://www.georgia.gov/00/photo_article/0,2091,4802_16275282_27560837_13713914,00.html Stone Mountain] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080422013135/http://www.georgia.gov/00/photo_article/0%2C2091%2C4802_16275282_27560837_13713914%2C00.html|date=2008-04-22}}." ''georgia.gov,'' retrieved February 2007.</ref>  The carving, completed in 1972, depicts three [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] leaders, [[Jefferson Davis]], [[Robert E. Lee]], and [[Thomas J. Jackson|Stonewall Jackson]].<ref name="Stone Mountain Controversy">"[https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588 What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America’s Largest Confederate Memorial?] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528052400/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/|date=2018-05-28}}." "smithsonianmag.com," retrieved May 2018.</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Shah |first=Khushbu |date=October 24, 2018 |title=The KKK's Mount Rushmore: the problem with Stone Mountain |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/oct/24/stone-mountain-is-it-time-to-remove-americas-biggest-confederate-memorial |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024152615/https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/oct/24/stone-mountain-is-it-time-to-remove-americas-biggest-confederate-memorial |archive-date=October 24, 2018 |access-date=October 24, 2018 |work=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref>

==Geology==
[[File:Stone Mountain View through trees.jpg|left|thumb|Stone Mountain through trees]]
Stone Mountain is a [[pluton]], a type of [[Igneous rock|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]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/LandResources/Geography/Mountains/SitesandFeatures-1&id=h-2131 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414221002/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?path=/LandResources/Geography/Mountains/SitesandFeatures-1&id=h-2131 |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 14, 2013 |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia: Granite Outcrops |date=2005-01-07 |publisher=Georgiaencyclopedia.org |access-date=2012-12-18}}</ref> It formed as a result of the upwelling of [[magma]] from within the Earth's [[Crust (geology)|crust]]. This magma solidified to form granite within the crust {{convert|5|to|10|miles|km}} below the surface.

The Stone Mountain pluton continues underground {{convert|9|mi|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".<ref name="readersnatural">{{Cite book |title=Natural Wonders of the World |publisher=Reader's Digest Association, Inc |year=1980 |isbn=0-89577-087-3 |editor-last=Scheffel |editor-first=Richard L. |location=United States of America |pages=358 |editor-last2=Wernet |editor-first2=Susan J.}}</ref> 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]]<ref>Herrmann, L.A. 1954. Geology of the Stone Mountain-Lithonia District, Georgia. Georgia Geological Survey Bulletin 61. Atlanta, GA.</ref> to granite and [[granodiorite]].<ref>Grant, W.H. 1962. Field excursion, Stone Mountain-Lithonia district. Georgia Geologic Survey Guidebook 2. Atlanta, Georgia</ref>

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<ref>''Skeletal Tourmaline, Undercooling, and Crystallization History of the Stone Mountain Granite, Georgia, U.S.A.,'' Kristen M. Longfellow and Samuel E. Swanson (incomplete ref)</ref> crystals, but much larger, [[euhedral]] [[Pegmatite|pegmatitic]] tourmaline crystals can also be found in the mountain's numerous, cross-cutting [[felsic]] [[Dike (geology)|dikes]].
Embedded in the granite are [[xenolith]]s or pieces of foreign rocks entrained in the magma.

The granite intruded into the metamorphic rocks of the [[Piedmont (United States)|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, Georgia|DeKalb County]], smaller outcroppings farther south of Stone Mountain.

{{Wide image|Stone Mountain High Resolution Panoramic View.jpg|1500px|High resolution panoramic view from the summit of Stone Mountain}}

==Natural history==
[[File:Summit of Stone Mountain, Kennesaw Mountain in Background.jpg|thumb|Summit of Stone Mountain, [[Kennesaw Mountain]] (center) and [[Atlanta]] (left) in background]]

The top of the mountain is a landscape of bare rock and rock [[stream pool|pool]]s, and it provides views of the surrounding area including the skyline of [[downtown Atlanta]], often [[Kennesaw Mountain]], and on very clear days even the [[Appalachian Mountains]]. On some days, the top of the mountain is shrouded in a heavy fog, and visibility may be limited to only a few feet.

The clear freshwater pools on the summit form by rainwater gathering in eroded depressions, and are home to unusual [[clam shrimp]] and [[fairy shrimp]]. The tiny shrimp appear only during the rainy season. Through the process of [[cryptobiosis]], the tiny shrimp eggs (or [[Microbial cyst|cysts]]) can remain dormant for years in the dried out depressions, awaiting favorable conditions. These [[vernal pool]]s are also home to several federally listed rare and endangered plant species, such as black-spored quillwort (''[[Isoetes melanospora]]'') and pool sprite (also called snorkelwort, ''[[Gratiola amphiantha]]'').<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=Q1ST |title=Species Profile for Little amphianthus (Amphianthus pusillus) |website=ecos.fws.gov |access-date=2019-05-06 |archive-date=2020-08-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807035448/https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=Q1ST |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=S015 |title=Species Profile for Black Spored quillwort (Isoetes melanospora) |website=ecos.fws.gov |access-date=2019-05-06 |archive-date=2018-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180218113737/https://ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=S015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

The mountain's lower slopes are wooded. The rare [[Georgia oak]] was first discovered at the summit, and several specimens can easily be found along the walk-up trail and in the woods around the base of the mountain. In the [[autumn|fall]], the Confederate yellow daisy (''[[Helianthus porteri]]'') flowers appear on the mountain, growing in rock crevices and in the large wooded areas. More than 120 wildflowers, most of them native to the Southern Appalachians and including several rare or federally protected species, have been identified on the mountain.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Winslett |first=Larry and Julie |title=Wildflowers of Stone Mountain a field guide |publisher=Bright Hawk Press |year=2004 |isbn=0-9755633-0-0 |location=Dahlonega, Georgia}}</ref>
<gallery>
File:Quercus georgiana leaves in late spring 05.jpg|Leaves of the [[Georgia oak]]
File:Helianthus-porteri-2.jpg|Confederate yellow daisy (''[[Helianthus porteri]]'')
File:Gratiola amphiantha.jpg|Pool sprite  (''[[Gratiola amphiantha]]'')
File:Closeup of Black-spored Quillwort (Isoetes melanospora).jpg|Quillwort (''Isoetes melanospora'')
</gallery>

==Confederate Memorial Carving==
[[File:Stone Mountain Carving 2.jpg|thumb|Close-up of the memorial]]
[[File:US Stone Mountain half dollar, both sides.jpg|thumb|1925 [[Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar]] (design by Borglum)]]
[[File:Stone Mountain Stamp, US, 1970.jpg|right|thumb|U.S. postage stamp, 1970]]
[[File:Dixie Highway - DPLA - 37f7121a8dc91efc783acd7664a1b6dd.pdf|page=2|thumb|Advertisement for Stone Mountain in ''Dixie Highway'' magazine, May 1925]]
[[File:Stone Mountain, Georgia, US, carving in progress 1926.jpg|right|thumb|Carving in progress in 1926]]
[[File:Stone Mountain 1936.jpg|thumb|Stone Mountain sculpture in process]]

The largest [[Relief#Bas-relief or low relief|bas-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 [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson]] (on their favorite horses, Blackjack, [[Traveller (horse)|Traveller]], and Little Sorrel, respectively). The sculpture was cut {{convert|42|ft|m}} deep into the mountain,<ref name=Smith>{{cite web |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/ |title=What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America's Largest Confederate Memorial? |author=Boissoneault, Lorraine |magazine=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |date=August 22, 2017 |access-date=May 26, 2021 |archive-date=August 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822212142/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/}}</ref> measures {{convert|90|ft|m}} in height and {{convert|190|ft|m}} in width,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/things-you-might-not-know-about-stone-mountain-park/bdffmFbsNskCuHX2mgEHpO/ |newspaper=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |title=50 things you might not know about Stone Mountain Park |date=July 10, 2018 |access-date=May 26, 2021 |archive-date=November 11, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201111190336/https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/celebrity-news/things-you-might-not-know-about-stone-mountain-park/bdffmFbsNskCuHX2mgEHpO/}}</ref> and lies {{convert|400|ft|m}} above the ground.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-race-usa-stone-mountain/the-worlds-largest-confederate-monument-faces-renewed-calls-for-removal-idUSKBN2441C7 |author=McKay, Rich |title=The world's largest Confederate Monument faces renewed calls for removal |publisher=[[Reuters]] |date=July 3, 2020 |access-date=May 26, 2021 |archive-date=July 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200703135728/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-global-race-usa-stone-mountain/the-worlds-largest-confederate-monument-faces-renewed-calls-for-removal-idUSKBN2441C7}}</ref>

David Freeman, writing on the origins of the memorial, states: "Who first conceived of a Confederate memorial on the side of Stone Mountain has long been a matter of debate..... The written evidence...points to Francis Ticknor, a nineteenth-century physician and poet from [[Jones County, Georgia]]...in an 1869 poem.... William H. Terrell, an Atlanta attorney and son of a Confederate veteran, ...suggested it publicly on May 26, 1914 in an editorial for the ''[[Atlanta Constitution]]''."<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|55}}  Three weeks later, Georgian [[John Temple Graves]], editor of the ''[[New York American]]'', suggested it should have a {{convert|70|ft|adj=on}} statue of [[Robert E. Lee]].<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|56}}

The project was greatly advanced by C. Helen Plane,<ref name="Emory">[http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zxfs Stone Mountain collection, 1915-1977]. Manuscript Collection No. 95. Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. Emory University. emory.edu. Retrieved 2017-08-25.</ref> a charter member of the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]] (UDC) and first president and Honorary Life President of the Georgia State Division.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|57}} After obtaining the approval of the Georgia UDC, she set up the UDC Stone Mountain Memorial Association in 1914, when she was 85 years old. She convinced [[Samuel Venable]] of the Venable Brothers Granite Company, an active Klan member and owner of the mountain, to deed one side of the mountain for the project.<ref>{{cite book |first=Wendy Hamand |last=Venet |title=Gone but not forgotten : Atlantans commemorate the Civil War |date=2020 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |location=Athens, Georgia |isbn=9780820358130 |page=80}}</ref> She chose the [[sculptor]] [[Gutzon Borglum]] for the project and invited him to visit the mountain (although, despite his [[Ku Klux Klan]] involvement,<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|79}} she "would not shake his hand—he was, after all, a Yankee").<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|58–59}} She met him at the Atlanta train station, took him to her family's summer home, Mont Rest, at the foot of the mountain, and introduced him to Samuel Venable,.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|59}} Borglum also enlisted [[Luigi Del Bianco]], whom he would also involve in Mount Rushmore.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.luigimountrushmore.com/about-luigi-2/ |title=About Luigi Del Bianco &#124; |access-date=2020-07-03 |archive-date=2020-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705084605/https://www.luigimountrushmore.com/about-luigi-2/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Borglum's original plan was having five groups of figures, sixty-five mounted officers representing the states (to be chosen by the states), General [[Nathan Bedford Forrest]] and his cavalry—some 700 to 1,000 figures, each from {{convert|35|ft}} to {{convert|50|ft}} high. In addition, Borglum planned a room cut {{convert|60|ft}} into the mountain, {{convert|320|ft}} wide, and {{convert|40|ft}} high, faced by 13 columns.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|59–60}}

Venable deeded the north face of the mountain to the UDC in 1916, on the condition that it complete a sizable Civil War monument in 12 years. Finances as well as technical problems slowed progress. The [[U.S. Mint]] issued a [[Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar|1925 Commemorative silver U.S. half dollar]], bearing the words "Stone Mountain", as a fundraiser for the monument.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com/collecting/stone-mountain-halfdollar.htm |title=Information about the Stone Mountain Half Dollar coin |last=Pilitowski |first=Tom |website=U.S. Rare Coin Investments |id=The authorized issue was 5 million coins, to be sold at $1 each, but only 1.3 million coins released. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181120184703/http://www.usrarecoininvestments.com/collecting/stone-mountain-halfdollar.htm |archive-date=November 20, 2018 |access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref> This issue, which required the approval of both the 1926 Congress and President [[Calvin Coolidge]], was the largest issue of commemorative coins by the U.S. government up to that time.<ref name="Freeman">{{Cite book |last=Freeman |first=David B. |title=Carved in Stone : The History of Stone Mountain |publisher=[[Mercer University Press]] |year=1997 |isbn=0865545472}}</ref>{{rp|81}}

Financial conflicts between Borglum and the Association led to his firing in 1925.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|85}} Borglum destroyed his models, claiming that they were his property, but the Association disagreed and had a warrant issued for his arrest. He was warned of the arrest and narrowly escaped to North Carolina, whose governor, [[Angus Wilton McLean|Angus McLean]], refused to extradite him,<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|89}} though he could not return to Georgia. The affair was highly publicized and there was much discussion and discord, including discord between Sam Venable, the Association and Association president Hollins Randolph.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|103, 116–119}} The face of Lee that Borglum had partially completed was blasted off the mountain in 1928.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|111}}

After a number of sculptors turned them down,<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|97}} [[Augustus Lukeman]] took up the work in 1925, with a different, smaller design. Fundraising was even more difficult after the public debate and name-calling, and work stopped in 1928. In 1941, segregationist Governor [[Eugene Talmadge]] formed the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA) to continue work on the memorial, but the project was delayed once again by the United States' entry into World War II (1941–45).<ref name=Encycl />

In response to the 1954 ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' Supreme Court ruling and the birth of the [[civil rights movement]], in 1958, at the urging of segregationist Governor [[Marvin Griffin]],<ref name=McKinney />{{rp|21}} the Georgia legislature approved a measure to purchase Stone Mountain at a price of $1,125,000. In 1963, [[Walker Hancock]] was selected to complete the carving, and work began in 1964. The carving was dedicated in a ceremony on May 9, 1970.<ref>{{cite news |last=Winter |first=Don |date=May 10, 1970 |title='Lost Cause' Survives Sectional Furor, Artistic Strife |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/60536032/lost-cause-survives-sectional-furor/ |page=21 |work=The Atlanta Constitution |access-date=2020-07-31 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The carving was completed by Roy Faulkner<!--- not the soccer player ---> on March 3, 1972.<ref name="SMHistory">{{Cite web |url=http://www.stonemountainpark.com/About/History |title=History |publisher=Stone Mountain Park. stonemountainpark.org |access-date=2017-08-25 |archive-date=2017-08-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826033959/http://www.stonemountainpark.com/About/History |url-status=live}}</ref> Faulkner in 1985 opened the Stone Mountain Carving Museum (now closed) on nearby Memorial Drive commemorating the carving's history.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pousner |first=Howard |url=https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/attractions/stone-mountain-mass-appeal-also-brings-some-tall-problems/KvzUEjSDMfBbchHQfwNoWM/ |title=Stone Mountain's mass appeal also brings some tall problems |date=June 16, 1985 |work=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=May 25, 2018 |archive-date=May 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180528215222/https://www.ajc.com/entertainment/attractions/stone-mountain-mass-appeal-also-brings-some-tall-problems/KvzUEjSDMfBbchHQfwNoWM/ |url-status=live}}</ref> An extensive archival collection related to the project is now at [[Emory University]], with the bulk of the materials dating from 1915 to 1930; the [[finding aid]] provides a history of the project, and an index of the papers contained in the collection.<ref name="Emory" />

Four flags of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] are flown at the site.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Davis |first=Mark |url=https://www.myajc.com/news/flag-causes-flap-stone-mountain/gzL67vy49V0RZU2yajcnzN/ |title=Flag causes flap at Stone Mountain |date=July 2, 2015 |work=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=May 25, 2018 |archive-date=September 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180921124320/https://www.myajc.com/news/flag-causes-flap-stone-mountain/gzL67vy49V0RZU2yajcnzN/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The Stone Mountain Memorial Lawn "contains...thirteen terraces—one for each Confederate state.... Each terrace flies the flag that the state flew as member of the Confederacy."<ref name="Myajc">{{Cite news |last=Corson |first=Pete |url=https://www.myajc.com/news/local/photos-confederate-memorials-metro-atlanta/4GRL1pq5JCvgl14heVFn8J/#p4n7UtNgEeaaFysXpM96yA |title=Photos: Confederate memorials in metro Atlanta |work=[[Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=May 25, 2018 |archive-date=December 11, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181211010119/https://www.myajc.com/news/local/photos-confederate-memorials-metro-atlanta/4GRL1pq5JCvgl14heVFn8J/#p4n7UtNgEeaaFysXpM96yA |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Replica plantation===
In 1963, beneath the sculpture, a replica plantation whose slave quarters were described as "neat" and "well furnished" in promotional materials was opened to the public. The slaves were called "hands" or "workers", and black actress [[Butterfly McQueen]] (from ''[[Gone with the Wind (film)|Gone with the Wind]]'') was hired to guide and inform visitors.<ref>{{cite journal |title=What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America's Largest Confederate Memorial? The Georgia landmark is a testament to the enduring legacy of white supremacy |first=Lorraine |last=Boissoneault |date=August 22, 2017 |journal=[[Smithsonian Magazine]] |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/ |access-date=September 28, 2018 |archive-date=September 18, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180918005231/https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The park states that the plantation was inspired by ''Gone with the Wind''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Square |url=http://www.stonemountainguide.com/Historic-Square.html |publisher=Stone Mountain Guide |access-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204164606/https://www.stonemountainguide.com/Historic-Square.html |url-status=live}}</ref> "Historic Square was opened in 1963 and was originally known as Stone Acres Plantation and later as the Antebellum Plantation before being renamed Historic Square.... Historic Square's clapboard slave cabins were moved intact from the Graves Plantation near Covington, Georgia, where they were built between 1825 and 1840".<ref>{{cite web |title=Historic Square |url=http://www.stonemountainguide.com/Historic-Square.html |publisher=Stone Mountain Guide |access-date=August 3, 2021 |archive-date=December 4, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201204164606/https://www.stonemountainguide.com/Historic-Square.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Involvement of the Ku Klux Klan===
[[File:William-joseph-simmons2.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Joseph Simmons|William J. Simmons]] founded the reborn Klan atop Stone Mountain in 1915.]]
[[File:19151128AC Klan re-established.jpg|thumb|upright|''[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution|The Atlanta Constitution]]'' clipping Nov. 28, 1915, describing the Klan re-establishment atop Stone Mountain]]
According to sociologist [[James W. Loewen]],  Stone Mountain was "''the'' sacred site to members of the [[Ku Klux Klan#Second Klan|second]] and [[Ku Klux Klan#Third Klan|third national klans]]."<ref name="Loewen">{{Cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780965003179 |title=Lies Across America: What our Historic Sites Get Wrong |publisher=[[The New Press]] |year=1999 |isbn=1565843444 |url-access=registration}}</ref>{{rp|262}} Loewen describes how the rebirth of the [[Ku Klux Klan]]—the second Klan—was inspired by [[D. W. Griffith]]'s 1915 Klan-glorifying film, ''[[The Birth of a Nation]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/316.html |title=A Painful Present as Historians Confront a Nation's Bloody Past |publisher=Hartford-hwp.com |access-date=2014-07-29 |archive-date=2017-02-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201234509/http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/316.html |url-status=live}}</ref> That was followed in August by the highly publicized [[lynching in the United States|lynching]] of [[Leo Frank]], who had been convicted of murder, in nearby [[Marietta, Georgia]]. On November 25 of the same year, [[Thanksgiving Day]], a small group, including fifteen robed and hooded "charter members" of the new organization, met at the summit of Stone Mountain to create a new iteration of the Klan. Led by [[William Joseph Simmons|William J. Simmons]], it included two elderly members of the original Klan. As part of their ceremony, they set up on the summit an [[altar]] covered with a flag, opened a [[Bible]], and burned a {{cvt|16|ft|m|adj=on}} cross.<ref name=McKinney />{{rp|20}}<ref name="time">{{Cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898581,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819190502/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,898581,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=August 19, 2008 |title=The Various Shady Lives of the Ku Klux Klan |date=April 9, 1965 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |quote=An itinerant Methodist preacher named William Joseph Simmons started up the Klan again in Atlanta in 1915. Simmons, an ascetic-looking man, was a fetishist on fraternal organizations. He was already a "colonel" in the Woodmen of the World, but he decided to build an organization all his own. He was an effective speaker, with an affinity for alliteration; he had preached on "Women, Weddings and Wives," "Red Heads, Dead Heads and No Heads," and the "Kinship of Kourtship and Kissing." On Thanksgiving Eve 1915, Simmons took 15 friends to the top of Stone Mountain, near Atlanta, built an altar on which he placed an American flag, a Bible and an unsheathed sword, set fire to a crude wooden cross, muttered a few incantations about a "practical fraternity among men," and declared himself Imperial Wizard of the Invisible Empire of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.}}</ref>

[[James R. Venable]] attended the 1915 revival of the KKK on top of Stone Mountain and later became an [[Imperial Wizard]] of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, which was one of the later KKK factions.<ref name="Gray2017">{{Cite web |url=https://justiceinitiativeinternational.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/part-two-atlanta-and-the-klan-1982-interview-with-james-venable/ |title=Part Two: Atlanta and the Klan 1982 – interview with James Venable |last=Gray |first=Heather |date=October 4, 2017 |website=Justice Initiative International |language=en |access-date=June 21, 2021 |archive-date=June 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204131/https://justiceinitiativeinternational.wordpress.com/2017/10/04/part-two-atlanta-and-the-klan-1982-interview-with-james-venable/ |url-status=live}}</ref> He owned land at the base of the mountain that he had inherited from his ancestors, and in October 1923 he granted the Klan an [[easement]] with perpetual right to hold celebrations as they desired.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Patsy Sims |url=https://archive.org/details/klan00sims |title=The Klan |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |year=1996 |isbn=0-8131-0887-X |page=[https://archive.org/details/klan00sims/page/247 247] |url-access=registration}}</ref> However, the property was condemned in 1960 at the behest of the  Stone Mountain Memorial Association.<ref name="CourtCase">{{cite web |title=Russell v. Venable |url=https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1960/20875-1.html |publisher=[[Justia]] |access-date=21 June 2021 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624203150/https://law.justia.com/cases/georgia/supreme-court/1960/20875-1.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

The Klan also held cross-burnings at the summit of the mountain on different occasions from 1915 onward.<ref name="Sharpe2017">{{cite news |last1=Sharpe |first1=Joshua |title=The last time the KKK tried to burn a cross on Stone Mountain... |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/the-last-time-the-kkk-tried-burn-cross-stone-mountain/8bwWRtm4Q3MD17E11VCiMK/ |access-date=21 June 2021 |work=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=August 23, 2017 |archive-date=24 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210624204734/https://www.ajc.com/news/local/the-last-time-the-kkk-tried-burn-cross-stone-mountain/8bwWRtm4Q3MD17E11VCiMK/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Petrella |first=Christopher |url=https://bostonreview.net/us/christopher-petrella-stone-mountain-white-supremacy-modern-democratic-party |title=On Stone Mountain |date=March 30, 2016 |work=[[Boston Review]] |access-date=August 27, 2018 |archive-date=August 23, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823050312/http://bostonreview.net/us/christopher-petrella-stone-mountain-white-supremacy-modern-democratic-party |url-status=live}}</ref> This practice came to an end in 1962, when the Klan attempted to hold a mountaintop cross-burning in response to the [[NAACP]] holding its national convention in [[Atlanta]].<ref name="Sharpe2017"/> The Stone Mountain Memorial Association did not want either group using state property for demonstrations, and convinced Governor [[Ernest Vandiver]] to order state troopers to stop the event.<ref name="Sharpe2017"/> Seventy troopers attempted to stop several hundred Klansmen gathered at the base of the mountain from climbing to the summit, but the Klansmen were armed with [[billy clubs]], flashlights, and stones, and greatly outnumbered the officers.<ref name="Sharpe2017"/> The police negotiated a truce with the local Klan [[Grand Dragon]], under which the Klansmen would refrain from further violence, but 20 of their number would be allowed to climb the mountain for a "religious ceremony", and the cross-burning was substituted with the lighting of a flare.<ref name="Sharpe2017"/>

In August 2017, the Klan was denied a permit for a mountaintop cross-burning.<ref name="Sharpe2017"/>

Fundraising for the monument resumed in 1923. The influence of the UDC continued, in support of Mrs. Plane's vision of a carving explicitly for the purpose of creating a Confederate memorial. She suggested in a letter to the first sculptor, [[Gutzon Borglum]]:

{{blockquote|I feel it is due to the Klan[,] which saved us from Negro dominations [sic] and [[carpetbagger|carpetbag]] rule, that it be immortalized on Stone Mountain. Why not represent a small group of them in their nightly uniform approaching in the distance?<ref name=McKinney />{{rp|21}}<ref name="Encycl">{{Cite book |last=Stewart |first=Bruce E. |url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain |title=New Georgia Encyclopedia |year=2004 |chapter=Stone Mountain |access-date=June 4, 2018 |archive-date=April 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405112300/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain |url-status=live}}</ref>}}

The UDC established the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association (SMCMA) for fundraising and on-site supervision of the project. Venable and Borglum, both closely associated with the Klan, arranged to pack the SMCMA with Klan members.<ref name="ngeorgia.com">{{cite web |url=http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Stone_Mountain_Carving |title=Stone Mountain Carving |publisher=Ngeorgia.com |access-date=2014-07-29 |archive-date=2013-01-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126010818/http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Stone_Mountain_Carving |url-status=live}}</ref> The SMCMA, along with the [[United Daughters of the Confederacy]], continued fundraising efforts. Of the $250,000 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=250000|start_year=1925}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) raised, part came from the federal government, which in 1925 issued [[United States commemorative coins|commemorative]] fifty-cent coins with the soldiers Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on them.<ref>Shaff, Howard & Audrey arl Shaff, ''Six Wars at a Time: the life and times of Gutzon Borglum, Sculptor of Mt. Rushmore'', The Center For Western Studies, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, 1985 p. 207</ref> The image on the back of the coin was based on ''The Last Meeting of Lee and Jackson'',<ref>{{cite web |url=http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/stone/coin.html |title=Confederate Half Dollar |website=xroads.virginia.edu |access-date=1 September 2017 |archive-date=25 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160325211135/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ug97/stone/coin.html |url-status=dead}}</ref> executed in 1869 by Everett B. D. Fabrino Julio,{{efn|Julio was an American born in [[Saint Helena]] in 1843 who emigrated to the U.S. in 1860. He died in 1879.}} itself an icon of [[Lost Cause]] mythology; it is now in the [[American Civil War Museum]] (until 2012 the Museum of the Confederacy).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00001209mets.xml |title=The Last Meeting |website=Encyclopediavirginia.org\accessdate=1 September 2017 |access-date=16 August 2017 |archive-date=17 August 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817075432/https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/media_player?mets_filename=evm00001209mets.xml |url-status=live}}</ref> When the state completed the purchase in 1960, it [[Eminent domain|condemn]]ed the property to void Venable's agreement to allow the Klan perpetual right to hold meetings on the premises.<ref name="ngeorgia.com" />

===Proposed removal of the carving===
{{see also|Removal of Confederate monuments and memorials}}
After the [[Charleston church shooting]] in June 2015, Stone Mountain was the subject of a political debate related to the removal of symbols of the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/debate-brewing-over-stone-mountain-parks-confedera/nmnWd/ |title=Debate brewing over Stone Mountain Park's Confederate flags |access-date=2015-08-11 |archive-date=2015-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810082925/http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/debate-brewing-over-stone-mountain-parks-confedera/nmnWd/ |url-status=live}}.</ref> This controversy was stimulated by a movement in other states to remove the [[Flags of the Confederate States of America|Confederate battle flag]] and statues of Confederate leaders from public areas.

{{blockquote|[The Confederate sculpture at Stone Mountain is] the largest shrine to white supremacy in the history of the world ... I don't think people understand the objective and the intent. They don't understand that it's based on white supremacy because the [American Civil War] was based on white supremacy, and the 'heroes' are based on white supremacy. After the killings at Emanuel Church in Charleston, it finally crystallized for me that these monuments encourage violence and validate oppression.|source=President of the [[NAACP]] Richard Rose<ref name=McKinney/>}}

In July 2015, the Atlanta NAACP proposed removing the Confederate carving from Stone Mountain Park.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.onlineathens.com/mobile/2015-07-25/removal-confederate-carving-stone-mountain-seen-unlikely |title=The removal of the Confederate carving at Stone Mountain is seen as unlikely |first=Kathleen |last=Foody |agency=Associated Press |date=July 25, 2015 |archive-date=2015-07-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150728171513/http://onlineathens.com/mobile/2015-07-25/removal-confederate-carving-stone-mountain-seen-unlikely |url-status=dead}}"</ref> However, this would require the approval of the [[Georgia Legislature]], as would any change to a "military monument" in the state.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wmaz.com/mobile/article/mobile/article/news\local/georgia-state-law-makes-It-Difficult-to-Completely-Remove-or-Hide-Confederate-Monuments/93-464932603 |publisher=WMAZ |date=August 17, 2017 |access-date=November 10, 2017 |title=Georgia State Law Makes It Difficult to Completely Remove or Hide Confederate Monuments |first=Jacob |last=Reynolds}}</ref>

On October 11, 2015, ''[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]]'' reported the park was considering a proposal of a permanent "Freedom Bell" honoring [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and the line "Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia", from King's 1963 "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/10/11/a-monument-to-mlk-will-crown-stone-mountain/ |title=A monument to MLK will crown Stone Mountain - Political Insider blog |website=Politics.blog.ajc.com |access-date=1 September 2017 |archive-date=28 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170928182325/http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2015/10/11/a-monument-to-mlk-will-crown-stone-mountain/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The proposed monument is inspired by a bell-ringing ceremony held in 2013 honoring the 50th anniversary of King's speech. It is not supported by the [[NAACP]] or King-founded [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC), who want the Confederate symbols removed rather than a King symbol added.<ref>{{cite news |title=Civil rights groups oppose King monument on Stone Mountain |first=Ernie |last=Suggs |url=https://www.myajc.com/news/civil-rights-groups-oppose-king-monument-stone-mountain/iqH55iW9CnU7eiW5oVIWDN/ |newspaper=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |date=October 15, 2015 |access-date=May 25, 2018 |archive-date=May 27, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180527202244/https://www.myajc.com/news/civil-rights-groups-oppose-king-monument-stone-mountain/iqH55iW9CnU7eiW5oVIWDN/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Advance Local reported in 2015 that both the DeKalb County branch of the NAACP and the [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]] were opposed to the bell because it would have been put next to a Confederate monument. Representatives of the NAACP were quoted in the article saying "It's an attempt to gain support from blacks to keep these racist and demeaning symbols."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.al.com/news/2015/10/naacp_joins_confederate_groups.html |title=NAACP, Confederate groups oppose Stone MTN. Plan |newspaper=Al |date=14 October 2015 |access-date=5 May 2019 |archive-date=5 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190505203411/https://www.al.com/news/2015/10/naacp_joins_confederate_groups.html |url-status=live}}</ref>{{Update inline|reason=Was it mentioned again after October 2015, or can the paragraph now add confirmation that there were no further updates?|date=November 2020}}

In August 2017, after the [[Unite the Right rally]] in [[Charlottesville, Virginia]]—a [[white nationalist]] protest against the removal of the [[Robert E. Lee Monument (Charlottesville, Virginia)|Robert E. Lee monument]] and [[Thomas Jonathan Jackson (sculpture)|Stonewall Jackson sculpture]] in the city—turned violent, many people across the country again demanded the removal of Confederate monuments and memorials as part of a national political debate.<ref name="latimes1">{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-jindal-monuments-20150814-story.html |title=Jindal seeks to block removal of Confederate monuments in New Orleans |first=Natalie |last=Schachar |date=August 15, 2015 |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |access-date=August 17, 2017 |archive-date=August 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817034953/http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-jindal-monuments-20150814-story.html |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/16/us/confederate-monuments-removed.html |title=Confederate Monuments Are Coming Down Across the United States |last1=Bidgood |first1=Jess |last2=Bloch |first2=Matthew |last3=McCarthy |first3=Morrigan |last4=Stack |first4=Liam |last5=Andrews |first5=Wilson |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=August 16, 2017 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170818193229/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/16/us/confederate-monuments-removed.html |archive-date=2017-08-18 |url-status=unfit}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-virginia-protests-statues-idUSKCN1AV0XE |title=U.S. cities step up removal of Confederate statues, despite Virginia |date=August 16, 2017 |newspaper=[[Reuters]] |access-date=August 20, 2017 |archive-date=February 28, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228091423/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-virginia-protests-statues-idUSKCN1AV0XE |url-status=live}}</ref> Georgia State Representative and Democratic gubernatorial candidate [[Stacey Abrams]] called for the removal, by [[sandblasting]], of Stone Mountain's carving.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/the-week-after-charlottesville-eyes-turn-stone-mountain/kR4u7ofQmbQxF82DrFbmeK/ |title=The Week: After Charlottesville, eyes turn to Stone Mountain |date=August 18, 2017 |newspaper=[[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]] |access-date=2017-08-20 |archive-date=2017-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821050320/http://www.ajc.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/the-week-after-charlottesville-eyes-turn-stone-mountain/kR4u7ofQmbQxF82DrFbmeK/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=In Georgia Governor's Race, a Defining Moment for a Southern State |last1=Sack |first1=Kevin |last2=Blinder |first2=Alan |author1-link=Kevin Sack |date=July 28, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/us/politics/georgia-governor-race.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20180728210812/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/28/us/politics/georgia-governor-race.html |archive-date=2018-07-28 |url-status=unfit}}</ref> She called it "a blight upon our state".<ref>{{cite news |title=Stone Mountain: The Largest Confederate Monument Problem in the World |first=Richard |last=Fausset |date=October 18, 2018 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/stone-mountain-confederate-removal.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20200705011946/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/stone-mountain-confederate-removal.html |archive-date=2020-07-05 |url-status=unfit}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=October 24, 2018 |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |title=The KKK's Mount Rushmore: the problem with Stone Mountain |first=Khushbu |last=Shah |url=https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/oct/24/stone-mountain-is-it-time-to-remove-americas-biggest-confederate-memorial |access-date=October 24, 2018 |archive-date=October 24, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024152615/https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2018/oct/24/stone-mountain-is-it-time-to-remove-americas-biggest-confederate-memorial |url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Public opposition ===
The history of Stone Mountain as a headquarters and site of importance to the Ku Klux Klan has led to public advocacy for the removal of the monument's protected status. Under a 2001 Georgia law, historical monuments cannot be removed, as they are deemed property of the local government in which they reside.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-06-20 |title=State law prevents removal of any historic monument |url=https://www.times-herald.com/news/local/state-law-prevents-removal-of-any-historic-monument/article_9b88102e-4091-5fcc-9ea6-745eb7c2b251.html |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Times-Herald.com |language=en}}</ref> The law explicitly protects war monuments historically significant to the United States, the [[Confederacy (American Civil War)|Confederacy of the United States]], or the State of Georgia. Given this, the removal of the [[Relief|carving]] on Stone Mountain has not been successful under current laws. In addition to its status as a historical monument, Stone Mountain has additional protection under Georgia state law. Part 4 of Article 6 of Chapter 3 of Title 12 of the [[Official Code of Georgia Annotated|Official Code of Georgia]] still requires the SMMA to maintain Stone Mountain as a memorial to the confederacy.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Georgia HB243 {{!}} 2025-2026 {{!}} Regular Session |url=https://legiscan.com/GA/text/HB243/id/3100453 |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=LegiScan |language=en}}</ref> 

In 2020, the formation of an [[Advocacy group|advocacy organization]], Stone Mountain Action Coalition was founded as a movement<blockquote>dedicated to a more inclusive Stone Mountain Park centered on the principles of healing, transformation and progress. SMAC membership is a diverse coalition of concerned citizens, political leaders, community organizations, faith-based groups and businesses who are dedicated to supporting constructive solutions and ideas that reflect a new, shared vision for the Park.<ref>{{Cite web |title=SMAC Overview |url=https://stonemountainaction.org/overview |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Stone Mountain Action Coalition |language=en-US}}</ref></blockquote>The coalition became active in 2020 with the objectives to create a more honest portrayal of the history of [[white supremacy]] associated with Stone Mountain, and to advance the offerings of the park to attract a broader range of visitors, improving the economic viability of the park. The coalition supports the passage of Georgia state bill HB-243, which would repeal the historical mandate that Georgia operate Stone Mountain as a memorial to the Confederacy. In February 2025, the bill was introduced in the [[Georgia House of Representatives]]. The bill is currently sponsored by six [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] state senators, including Billy Mitchell, Mary Oliver, Angela Moore, Dar'shun Kendrick, Scott Holcomb, and Karen Lupton.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Georgia HB243 {{!}} 2025-2026 {{!}} Regular Session |url=https://legiscan.com/GA/drafts/HB243/2025 |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=LegiScan |language=en}}</ref> A similar bill, HB 794, introduced in 2023 and supported by the coalition, was stalled in the legislature and did not become law.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Georgia HB794 {{!}} 2023-2024 {{!}} Regular Session |url=https://legiscan.com/GA/text/HB794/id/2753521 |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=LegiScan |language=en}}</ref>  

Other demands by the coalition are to remove the names of Confederate leaders from the streets bordering the park, issue an anti-racism statement, and refuse permits to hate groups, primarily the Ku Klux Klan, and make SMMA board meetings monthly and open to the public.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reclaim OUR Park |url=https://stonemountainaction.org/reclaimourpark |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Stone Mountain Action Coalition |language=en-US}}</ref> 

On July 5, 2020, 100 to 200 armed protesters came to Stone Mountain to call for the carving's removal.<ref name="Armed Protesters">{{cite news |title=Armed protesters march through Georgia's Stone Mountain Park |publisher=ABC News |agency=Associated Press |date=July 5, 2020 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/armed-protesters-march-georgias-stone-mountain-park-71614792 |access-date=July 5, 2020 |archive-date=July 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200705052355/https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/armed-protesters-march-georgias-stone-mountain-park-71614792 |url-status=live}}</ref> Known as the [[Not Fucking Around Coalition]] (NFAC), it was a protest against both overt and systemic racism, calling out white supremacists, with the location being chosen in part due to its history as the place where the Ku Klux Klan was re-formed.<ref>{{Cite web |title='I'm in your house' {{!}} Armed group condemns systemic and overt racism, marches to Stone Mountain |url=https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/stone-mountain/group-of-demonstrators-enter-stone-mountain-park/85-2ea0c153-8a88-46bd-bca7-faf19ec2c8ba |access-date=2020-07-15 |website=11Alive.com |date=July 4, 2020 |archive-date=2021-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711093308/https://www.11alive.com/article/news/local/stone-mountain/group-of-demonstrators-enter-stone-mountain-park/85-2ea0c153-8a88-46bd-bca7-faf19ec2c8ba |url-status=live}}</ref>

On August 15, 2020, the park administration temporarily closed its gates in reaction to a gathering of white nationalists planned there, and the city's public buses were suspended for the day. Despite the closure of the park, a physical altercation took place downtown between a group of white nationalist protesters and far-left counter-protesters, though no injuries were reported.<ref>{{cite news |last=Burke |first=Minyvonne |title=Stone Mountain Park in Georgia closes ahead of white nationalist rally, counterprotest |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/stone-mountain-park-georgia-closes-ahead-white-nationalist-rally-counterprotest-n1236865 |access-date=2025-06-18 |work=[[NBC]] |date=2020-08-15}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Keenan |first1=Sean |title=Barred From a Confederate Shrine, Protesters Scuffle in Georgia |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/us/confederate-shrine-protesters-stone-mountain-georgia.html |access-date=2021-04-02 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2020-08-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200815223201/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/15/us/confederate-shrine-protesters-stone-mountain-georgia.html |archive-date=2020-08-15 |url-status=unfit}}</ref>

In April 2025 an annual event for [[Confederate Memorial Day]] was held in the park by the [[Sons of Confederate Veterans]]. The keynote speaker was Walter Kennedy, a founding member of the [[League of the South]] and the [[Nationalist Front (United States)|Nationalist Front]] group, two far-right extremists groups responsible for organizing the 2017 [[Unite the Right rally|Unite the Right Rally]]. Given its current status as a memorial to the Confederacy, it is popular assembly point for members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) and similar organizations. SCV has applied for a permit for assembly within the park each year for the Confederate's Memorial Day event since the SMMA required an application for events. In 2021, the group was denied a permit for the event, with concerns for the spread of [[COVID-19 pandemic|COVID-19]] being cited,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-04-13 |title=Stone Mountain Park denies permit for Confederate event |url=https://apnews.com/article/race-and-ethnicity-mountains-coronavirus-pandemic-parks-atlanta-d618180442c3fb6b13067d3cd7b394d4 |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=AP News |language=en}}</ref> but it was granted one in subsequent years.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-27 |title=SPLC wants Stone Mountain Park to revoke permit for this weekend’s Confederate rally |url=https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/dekalb-county/splc-wants-stone-mountain-park-revoke-permit-this-weekends-confederate-rally/YHF7UWI5HFBRDMRLCH6S2LOJG4/ |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=WSB-TV Channel 2 - Atlanta |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Montoya |first=Orlando |date=2023-04-26 |title=Stone Mountain prepares for Confederate Memorial Day demonstrations |url=https://www.gpb.org/news/2023/04/26/stone-mountain-prepares-for-confederate-memorial-day-demonstrations |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Georgia Public Broadcasting |language=en}}</ref> In 2022, civil rights activists [[Protest|protested]] outside the SCV event.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Dress |first=Brad |date=April 2022 |title=Civil rights activists protest Confederate Memorial Day at Georgia’s Stone Mountain |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3473603-civil-rights-activists-protest-confederate-memorial-day-at-georgias-stone-mountain}}</ref> The annual event is controversial in the surrounding city of Stone Mountain and has drawn criticism from the local community due to [[Public security|public safety risks]] and opposition to hosting the influx of attendees.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Zonneveld |first=Andrew |date=2025-04-14 |title=Stone Mountain residents brace for Confederate Memorial Day |url=https://atlpresscollective.com/2025/04/14/confederate-memorial-day/ |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=Atlanta Community Press Collective |language=en-US}}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Bulletin 426 Plate XXV A Stone Mountain GA.jpg|thumb|Stone Mountain, {{circa|1910}}]]
[[File:Stone Mountain Grist Mill.jpg|thumb|right|Grist Mill from 1869 at Stone Mountain]]
[[File:Stone Mountain Railroad, GA.jpg|thumb|Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad depot, 1971]]
Human habitation of Stone Mountain and its surroundings date back into [[prehistory]]. When the mountain was first encountered by [[Europe]]an explorers, its summit was encircled by a rock wall, similar to that still to be found on Georgia's [[Fort Mountain State Park|Fort Mountain]]. The wall is believed to have been built by early [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] inhabitants of the area, although its purpose remains unclear. By the beginning of the 20th century, the wall had disappeared, the rocks having been taken away by early visitors as souvenirs, rolled down the rockface, or removed by the commercial quarrying operation.  The mountain was the eastern end of the Campbellton Trail, a [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native American]] path that ran through what is now the [[Atlanta]] area.
	 
Europeans first learned of the mountain in 1567, when [[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] explorers were told of a mountain farther inland which was "very high, shining when the sun set like a fire."{{explain|date=May 2018}} By this time, the Stone Mountain area was inhabited by the [[Creek (people)|Creek]] and (to a lesser extent) [[Cherokee]] peoples.

In the early 19th century, the area was known as Rock Mountain.  After the founding of DeKalb County and the [[county seat]] of [[Decatur, Georgia|Decatur]] in 1822, Stone Mountain was a natural recreation area; it was common for young couples on dates to ride to the mountain on horseback. The mountain is easy to climb and there has been a path since the nineteenth century.
	 
Entrepreneur Aaron Cloud built a {{convert|165|foot|m}} wooden observation tower at the summit of the mountain in 1838, but it was destroyed by a storm and replaced by a much smaller tower in 1851. Visitors to the mountain would travel to the area by rail and road, and then walk up the {{convert|1.1|mi|km|adj=on}} mountaintop trail to the top, where Cloud also had a restaurant and club.
	 
Granite quarrying started at Stone Mountain in the 1830s, but became a major industry following the completion of a railroad spur to the quarry site in 1847. This line was rebuilt by the [[Georgia Railroad]] in 1869. Over the years, Stone Mountain granite was used in many buildings and structures, including the locks of the [[Panama Canal]], the steps to the East Wing of the [[United States Capitol]] and the [[Imperial Hotel, Tokyo|Imperial Hotel]] in Tokyo. In recent years, granite suppliers in Georgia sent stone samples cut from Stone Mountain to the group responsible for planning the [[Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial]] in Washington, D.C.; the foundation later chose to use granite imported from China.<ref>{{cite news |author=Democracy in America American politics |url=https://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/08/martin-luther-king |title=Martin Luther King: A blockheaded memorial |newspaper=The Economist |date=August 30, 2011 |access-date=2012-12-18 |archive-date=2012-10-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024044208/http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2011/08/martin-luther-king |url-status=live}}</ref> Quarrying during earlier periods also destroyed several spectacular geological features on Stone Mountain, such as the Devil's Crossroads, which was located on top of the mountain.
	 
In 1887, Stone Mountain was purchased for $45,000 by the Venable Brothers of Atlanta, who quarried the mountain for 24 more years, and descendants of the Venable family would retain ownership of the mountain until it was purchased by the State of Georgia in 1958.

[[Martin Luther King Jr.]] mentioned the monument in his "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech at the August 1963 [[March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom]], when he said "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!"<ref name="yale king">{{cite web |last=King |first=Martin Luther Jr |author-link=Martin Luther King Jr. |title=I have a Dream |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/mlk01.asp |publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library |access-date=8 October 2011 |date=28 August 1963 |quote=let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! |archive-date=2 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110702151129/http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/mlk01.asp |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the [[1996 Summer Olympics]], Stone Mountain Park provided venues for Olympic events in tennis, [[Archery at the 1996 Summer Olympics|archery]] and [[Cycling at the 1996 Summer Olympics|track cycling]].<ref>[http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1996/1996v1.pdf 1996 Summer Olympics official report.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080528011846/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1996/1996v1.pdf |date=2008-05-28 }} Volume 1. p. 543.</ref><ref>[http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1996/1996v3.pdf 1996 Summer Olympics official report.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927222634/http://www.la84foundation.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1996/1996v3.pdf |date=2007-09-27 }} Volume 3. pp. 448, 453.</ref> The venues for archery and cycling were temporary and are now part of the songbird and habitat trail.<ref>''Driving Map: Stone Mountain Park'' (2009). Pamphlet. Stone Mountain, Georgia: Stone Mountain Park.</ref>

Some of the outdoor scenes for the [[Netflix]] series ''[[Stranger Things]]'' were filmed in the park.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://deepsouthmag.com/2016/07/28/georgia-locations-for-netflixs-stranger-things/ |title=Georgia Locations for Netflix's 'Stranger Things' |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=July 28, 2016 |website=Deep South Magazine |publisher=Deep South Media |access-date=January 1, 2017 |quote=Georgia's small towns outside of Atlanta, including Douglasville, Conyers, Jackson, Winston and Fayetteville, easily pass for the Midwest, and Jackson's intact downtown isn't a far stretch from 1983 Hawkins on film. |archive-date=December 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161226153555/http://deepsouthmag.com/2016/07/28/georgia-locations-for-netflixs-stranger-things/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

===Aviation incidents===
According to George Weiblen's annotated calendar for Monday, May 7, 1928: "Mail plane crashed on mountain at 8:00 P.M."<ref>{{cite web |title=Plane crash into AM 1928 |url=https://ajc.newspapers.com/article/johnson-city-chronicle-plane-crash-into/89391640/?locale=en-GB |website=ajc.newspapers.com |publisher=The Atlanta Journal Constitution |access-date=14 April 2024}}{{Dead link|date=February 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The pilot, Johnny S. Kytle (1905–1931), not only survived the crash, but managed to grab the mail and walk down the mountain.<ref>{{cite news |date=1928-05-08 |title=Air Mail Plane Crashes into Stone Mountain |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/397745923/ |work=The Atlanta Constitution |access-date=2024-02-25 |via=newspapers.com |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Around dusk on September 16, 2003, in clear weather, a small airplane circled the mountain five times, crashed headlong into the south side, and burst into flames. The pilot was killed. A witness testifying at the [[NTSB]] investigation stated that the pilot, a 69-year-old accountant, had threatened on multiple occasions to commit suicide by flying into the mountain. The official NTSB accident report lists the probable cause as "the pilot's intentional flight into the ground for the purpose of suicide while impaired by alcohol."<ref>NTSB Accident Report: [http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20030922X01565 Stone Mountain] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060618142424/http://ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20030922X01565 |date=2006-06-18 }}, 16 September 2003.</ref>

===Governance===
Stone Mountain Park, which surrounds the [[Confederate Memorial]], is owned by the state of Georgia and managed by the [[Stone Mountain Memorial Association]] (SMMA), a Georgia state authority. As of August, 2022, the board entered a 10-year contract (with the option to renew for up to 30 years) with Thrive Attractions Management Group, LLC, to operate park attractions. The SMMA retains ownership, while Thrive keeps 2% of the annual gross revenues from the park's hotels and 3% of gross revenues from other areas.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |last=Estep |first=Tyler |title=New management partner approved for Stone Mountain Park |language=English |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |url=https://www.ajc.com/neighborhoods/dekalb/new-management-partner-approved-for-stone-mountain-park/E26KYRADTBH2FE5ZV6CP5R6YHM/ |access-date=2023-07-11 |issn=1539-7459}}</ref>

From 1999 to 2022, park attractions were managed by [[Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation]], which had a 30-year contract to operate attractions. Under terms of a 1999 agreement, Herschend paid the state of Georgia $11 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=11000000|start_year=1999}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) annually, while the Stone Mountain Memorial Association had the right to reject any project deemed unfit. In 2018, Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation decided to end their contract early after only 20 years due to record losses in 2017 and 2018, citing decreased revenues and "protests and division" fueled by the park's ubiquitous [[Confederate imagery]] as factors. Bids for a new management company for Stone Mountain Park were submitted in October 2021.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.ajc.com/neighborhoods/dekalb/stone-mountain-park-board-names-finalist-for-new-business-partner/XTA6FHXYCNCU3IXEXC6UXOVRXE/?outputType=amp |title=Stone Mountain Park board names finalist |last=Tyler Estep |first=For the AJC |newspaper=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |access-date=2021-10-25}}</ref> Thrive Attractions Management Group, LLC, started by the previous Vice President of Herschend Family Entertainment Corporation and general manager of Stone Mountain Park for 10 years, Michael Dombrowski, submitted the only bid to the SMMA, which was approved on May 23, 2022.<ref name=":0" />

Since 2022, Thrive Attractions has jointly managed the park alongside the SMMA in a [[Public–private partnership|public-private partnership]]. In the years following management change, the park has operated at a financial loss. In April 2025, it was reported in a public board meeting that the park is operating at a $1.6 million loss for the year.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board & Committee Minutes – Stone Mountain Memorial Association |url=https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/meeting-minutes/ |access-date=2025-06-06 |language=en-US}}</ref> The Board reported no receipt of funds from Thrive Attractions. The current CEO is Bill Stephens and the Chair of the Board of Directors is Reverend Abraham Mosley.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Board of Directors – Stone Mountain Memorial Association |url=https://stonemountainpark.org/about-us/board-of-directors/ |access-date=2025-06-06 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Places of interest==
{{More citations needed section|date=December 2023}} 
[[File:Stone Mountain Covered Bridge 1.jpg|thumb|Covered bridge at Stone Mountain]]
Confederate Hall, operated directly by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association (SMMA), is a museum that educates students and park guests on the geology and ecology of Stone Mountain as well as historical aspects of the area.<ref>{{cite web |title=Confederate Hall |url=https://stonemountainguide.com/Confederate-Hall.html |website=stonemountainguide.com |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref> A small theater shows a historical documentary about the Civil War in Georgia called ''The Battle for Georgia''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Historical & Environmental Education Center |url=https://stonemountainpark.com/activity/history-nature/historical-environmental-education-center/ |website=stonemountainpark.com |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref>

The education department is host to thousands of students each school year, teaching the subjects of geology, ecology, and history. Classes are designed to meet the Georgia Performance Standards and the North American Association for Environmental Education guidelines.

Historic Square (formerly The Antebellum Plantation and Farmyard) is an [[open-air museum]] composed of 19 historic buildings, built between 1790 and 1875, that have been re-erected on the site to represent a pre-Civil War Georgia [[Plantation complexes in the Southeastern United States|plantation]]. The historic houses have been furnished with an extensive collection of period furniture and decorations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Antebellum Plantation |url=https://stonemountainguide.com/Plantation.html |website=stonemountainguide.com |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref> The farm features a [[petting zoo]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Stone Mountain Farmyard |url=https://stonemountainguide.com/Farmyard.html |website=stonemountainguide.com |access-date=14 April 2024}}</ref>

[[File:Stone Mountain Carillon.jpg|thumb|left|Carillon at Stone Mountain Park, January 2012]]

A [[grist mill]] dates from 1869 and was moved to the park in 1965. A [[covered bridge]] dates from 1892 and originally spanned the [[Oconee River]] in [[Athens, Georgia]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Seibert |first1=David |title=Stone Mountain Covered Bridge |url=http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/dekalb/untitled-stone-mountain-covered-bridge |website=GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac |publisher=Digital Library of Georgia |access-date=15 November 2016 |archive-date=16 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161116015230/http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/topics/historical_markers/county/dekalb/untitled-stone-mountain-covered-bridge |url-status=live}}</ref>

The park provides daily concerts on a large [[carillon]] that originated at the [[1964 New York World's Fair]]. The instrument consists of 732 bell-tone rods, electronically amplified through 60 speakers in a decorative 13-story structure.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/woods-and-hills-are-alive-with-music-732-bell-carillon-is-stone-mountain-parks-hidden-treasure/ |title=Woods and hills are alive with music; 732-bell carillon is Stone Mountain Park's hidden treasure |first=Gale Horton |last=Gay |newspaper=Champion Newspaper (DeKalb County) |date=March 19, 2014 |access-date=November 3, 2021 |archive-date=November 3, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211103071518/http://thechampionnewspaper.com/news/local/woods-and-hills-are-alive-with-music-732-bell-carillon-is-stone-mountain-parks-hidden-treasure/ |url-status=dead}}</ref>

===Broadcast tower===
[[File:Stone Mountain Transmitting Tower.jpg|thumb|upright|Pavilion and transmitting tower at the summit of Stone Mountain]]
The short [[broadcasting|broadcast]] [[radio tower|tower]] on the top of the mountain [[transmission (telecommunications)|transmit]]s two [[non-commercial]] stations: [[television station]] [[WGTV]] [[TV channel|TV]] 8, and [[weather radio]] [[radio station|station]] [[KEC80]] on 162.55&nbsp;MHz.  [[FM broadcasting|FM]] [[radio station]] [[WABE (FM)|WABE]] FM 90.1 was located on this tower from 1984 until 2005, when it was required to relocate to accommodate WGTV's digital conversion.{{Citation needed|date=November 2010}}  [[W266BW]] FM 101.1 now has a [[construction permit|permit]] as well. Atop the tower also sits the W4BOC [[amateur radio]] [[repeater]], which operates on a frequency of 146.760 [[MHz]]. The tower is also used for the park's [[Project 25]] two-way radio systems.<ref>[http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1302090&__newWindow=false Stone Mountain Park Memorial Association system: WPRF799 (public safety)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150414222759/http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1302090&__newWindow=false |date=2015-04-14 }} FCC website</ref><ref>[http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1126604&__newWindow=false: Stone Mountain Park Memorial Association system: WNAU431 (businesses)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018063103/http://wireless2.fcc.gov/UlsApp/UlsSearch/license.jsp?licKey=1126604&__newWindow=false: |date=2015-10-18 }} FCC website</ref>

===Scenic railroad===
{{Main|Stone Mountain Scenic Railroad}}

===Stone Mountain trails===
[[File:Stone mountain walkup 3.jpg|thumb|Stone Mountain walk-up trail]]
[[File:Stone mountain riverboat1.jpg|thumb|Stone Mountain riverboat]]

Walk Up Trail is a {{convert|1.3|mi|km|adj=on}} trail to the top of Stone Mountain ascending {{convert|786|ft|m|abbr=on}} in elevation to a height of {{convert|1686|ft|m|abbr=on}}. The trail is steep, but spectacular panoramic views and cool winds await hikers at the top.

Cherokee Trail is an {{convert|8|mi|km|0|adj=on}} National Recreation Trail.<ref>{{cite web |title=Cherokee Trail Hike Information |url=https://www.stonemountainpark.com/-/media/Files/HFE/SMP_COM/Maps/Trails/Stone-Mountain-Park-Cherokee-Trail.pdf |website=[[Stone Mountain State Park]] |access-date=2021-03-20 |archive-date=2021-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210711183539/https://www.stonemountainpark.com/-/media/Files/HFE/SMP_COM/Maps/Trails/Stone-Mountain-Park-Cherokee-Trail.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> It loops around the mountain base, with a mile section going up and over the west side of the mountain (crosses Walk Up Trail). It passes primarily through an oak-hickory forest, but views of the lakes, streams, and mountain are common.

Nature Garden Trail is a scenic {{convert|3/4|mi|km}} loop trail through a mature oak-hickory forest community. It is excellent for viewing shade-loving native plants. A small garden with interpretive native plant signs is at the entrance to the trail.

Songbird Habitat Trails consists of two loop trails each running {{convert|1|mi|km}}. The field trail is a birding spot and the woodland trail provides shade and numerous native plants. Dogs are not allowed.

===Park attractions===
The park is located in [[Stone Mountain, Georgia]] off of Highway 78. The park is located at 1000 Robert E. Lee Boulevard in Stone Mountain. Two other streets which intersect with Robert E. Lee Boulevard and encircle the Stone Mountain Park hold the names of the [[Confederate States Army|confederate]] general Stonewall Jackson and confederate commander-in-chief Jefferson Davis. 

As of May 2025, the park is jointly managed by SMMA and Thrive Attractions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Stone Mountain Park to get new management {{!}} |url=https://capitol-beat.org/2022/05/stone-mountain-park-to-get-new-management/ |access-date=2025-06-06 |website=capitol-beat.org}}</ref> The park features several attractions. The Skyride, a Swiss-built [[Aerial tramway|cable car]] to the summit of the mountain, passes by the carving on the way up.

Historic Square is a collection of historic buildings relocated from around the state of Georgia, including three [[Plantation house|plantation houses]] dating from 1794, 1850 and 1845; two slave cabins; a barn; and other outbuildings. The Historic Square Farmyard features historic breeds of sheep, goats and pigs. Atlanta architect James Means, investor Christie Bell Kennedy, and antiques dealer Kenneth Garcia chose, moved, arranged, altered, and decorated the buildings between 1960 and 1963. Modeled after [[Colonial Williamsburg]], the commercial concession originally opened as the "Antebellum Plantation".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Herrington |first1=Philip Mills |last2=Brandt |first2=Lydia Mattice |date=2022 |title="The 1960s Antebellum Plantation at Stone Mountain, Georgia" |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/jsah/article-abstract/81/1/63/120434/The-1960s-Antebellum-Plantation-at-Stone-Mountain |journal=Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians |volume=81 |issue=1 |pages=63–84 |doi=10.1525/jsah.2022.81.1.63 |s2cid=247984635 |via=Project Muse|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Crossroads is a recreation of an 1872 Southern town with several attractions that include a modern 4-D movie theater, an adventure [[mini-golf]] course and a duck-tour ride. The duck boats have been replaced by the Rockin' Land and Lake Tour in 2019 due to several deaths in other locations caused by duck-boat accidents.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.ajc.com/news/local/stone-mountain-park-suspends-duck-boats-after-missouri-tragedy/3NOvYRZE7JhAWXWpogVfaJ/ |date=July 20, 2019 |title=Stone Mountain Park suspends duck boats after Missouri tragedy |work=The Atlanta Journal-Constitution |access-date=July 21, 2018 |first=Joshua |last=Sharpe |archive-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180721003327/https://www.ajc.com/news/local/stone-mountain-park-suspends-duck-boats-after-missouri-tragedy/3NOvYRZE7JhAWXWpogVfaJ/ |url-status=live}}</ref> The tour includes a ride on a double-decker open-top bus and a pontoon boat ride at the marina.  There are stores and restaurants.  Craft demonstrators include [[glass blowing]] and candy-making.

The Dinotorium is a children's activity area that features 65 [[interactive game]]s, climbing structures, [[trampoline]] floors and slides. Sky Hike is a family ropes adventure course; Geyser Towers is a playground featuring a large fountain at the entrance.

On summer evenings, the mountain hosts the Stone Mountain Laser Show Spectacular, a fireworks and [[laser lighting display]]. The laser light show projects images of the Deep South as well as Georgia history onto the Confederate Memorial carving. During [[Memorial Day Weekend]] of 2011, Stone Mountain unveiled its overhaul of the laser show, dubbed Mountainvision, which incorporates digital projections, lasers, [[special effects]], and [[pyrotechnics]]. On Memorial Day Weekend of 2023 Stone Mountain park officially retired the Laser Show to make way for the brand new Music Across America Light Show. The Laser Show currently runs on selected nights as of 2023.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stone-mountain-park-debuts-new-lasershow-spectacular-in-mountainvision-this-summer-118359159.html |title=Stone Mountain Park Debuts New Lasershow Spectacular in Mountainvision This Summer – STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga., March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ |publisher=Prnewswire.com |date=2011-03-21 |access-date=2014-07-29 |archive-date=2014-07-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140726125435/http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/stone-mountain-park-debuts-new-lasershow-spectacular-in-mountainvision-this-summer-118359159.html |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Documentary==
''Monument: The Untold Story of Stone Mountain'' is a 2022 documentary made by the [[Atlanta History Center]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The truth about Stone Mountain's giant Confederate memorial. A new documentary explains how the vast carving in Georgia really got there |newspaper=[[The Economist]] |date=January 12, 2023 |url=https://www.economist.com/culture/2023/01/12/the-truth-about-stone-mountains-giant-confederate-memorial}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title='Monument': The Untold Story of Stone Mountain. Atlanta History Center explores the controversial history of the Stone Mountain carving through a documentary film and online resources |date=2022 |author=Atlanta History Center |author-link=Atlanta History Center |url=https://www.atlantahistorycenter.com/monument/}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of colossal sculpture in situ]]
* [[Stone Mountain Memorial half dollar]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite news |last=Boissoneault |first=Lorraine |date=August 22, 2017 |title=What Will Happen to Stone Mountain, America's Largest Confederate Memorial? |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-will-happen-stone-mountain-americas-largest-confederate-memorial-180964588/ |magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]}}
* {{cite news |last=Fausset |first=Richard |date=October 18, 2018 |title=Stone Mountain: The Largest Confederate Monument Problem in the World |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/us/stone-mountain-confederate-removal.html}}
* {{cite book |last=Freeman |first=David |title=Carved in Stone: The History of Stone Mountain |year=1997 |publisher=Mercer University Press |isbn=9780865545472}}
* {{cite book |author=Golden Ink |title=About North Georgia |contribution=Stone Mountain |url=http://ngeorgia.com/mountains/stonemountain.html |access-date=October 15, 2018 |archive-date=March 5, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070305130052/http://ngeorgia.com/mountains/stonemountain.html |url-status=dead}}
* {{cite book |last=Hollis |first=Tim |year=2009 |title=Stone Mountain Park |series=Images of America |publisher=Arcadia |isbn=978-0738568232}}
* Hudson, Paul Stephen, and Laura Pond Mirza (2011). ''Atlanta's Stone Mountain: A Multicultural History''{{full citation needed|date=September 2018}}
* {{Cite book |last=Loewen |first=James W. |title=Lies Across America: What Our Historic Sites Get Wrong |publisher=New Press |year=1999 |isbn=1-56584-344-4 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780965003179}}
* {{cite web |publisher=Stone Mountain Memorial Association |title=Ecosystem |url=http://www.stonemountainpark.org/ecosystem.htm |website=Stone Mountain Park |access-date=24 July 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004084025/http://www.stonemountainpark.org/ecosystem.htm |archive-date=4 October 2006}}
* {{Cite book |last=Yost |first=Deborah |title=Georgia's Stone Mountain Park |publisher=Aerial Photography Services, Inc |year=1997 |isbn=1-880970-11-2 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/georgiasstonemou00yost}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Stone Mountain Park, Georgia}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtYiQKeihGw Monument: The Untold Story of Stone Mountain]''
* [https://archive.today/20121205011646/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/atlanta/ Atlanta, Georgia, a National Park Service ''Discover Our Shared Heritage'' Travel Itinerary]
* [http://www.stonemountaincity.org/ City of Stone Mountain, Georgia], from the City of Stone Mountain
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19981111184524/http://stonemountainvillage.com/ Main Street Stone Mountain]
* [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-2145 Stone Mountain article], from the [[New Georgia Encyclopedia]]
* [http://georgia.quickcityinfo.com/Stone%20Mountain/Parks/582156/Stone_Mountain_State_Memorial_Park Stone Mountain Park and City Information]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071105162654/http://www.damonledet.com/photos/stonemountainpark/ Stone Mountain Park Photos]
* [http://www.stonemountainpark.com/ Stone Mountain Park website]
* [http://www.stonemountainguide.com/ Stone Mountain Park guide], with current and historical photos
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190529094252/https://www.stonemountainpark.com/About/History Detailed history], Stone Mountain Park
* [http://cdm.sos.state.ga.us/u?/adhoc,333 View from the top of Stone Mountain looking Northeast (1934)]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} and [http://cdm.sos.state.ga.us/u?/adhoc,324 Granite Quarry at Stone Mountain (1913)]{{Dead link|date=April 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} from the Georgia Geological Survey photographs in the collection of the [https://web.archive.org/web/20180626192332/http://sos.ga.gov/archives/ Georgia Archives].
* [http://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ga/pdf/stone_mountain_granite_corp_georgia_1914_booklet_and_price_list.pdf ''Stone Mountain Granite Corporation – Producers and Manufacturers Stone Mountain Light Gray Granite For Building Work – Dorian Gray For Mausoleums and Monuments'' & Stone Mountain Granite Corporation Granite Price List], circa 1914  (Office, quarries, and finishing plant located at Stone Mountain, Georgia)
* [http://quarriesandbeyond.org/states/ga/pdf/southeast_granite_co_stone_mountain_granite_memorials_monument_stone_catalog.pdf ''Southeast Granite Company – Stone Mountain'' Granite Memorial/Monumental Stones Catalog] (1920s)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/19970430071039/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~UG97/stone/home.html Shades of Gray: The Changing Focus of Stone Mountain Park]
* [https://rose.library.emory.edu/ Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library], Emory University: [http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/8zxfs Stone Mountain collection, 1915-1977]

{{Gutzon Borglum}}
{{Walker Hancock}}
{{Mountains of Georgia (U.S. State)}}
{{1996 Summer Olympic venues}}
{{Olympic venues archery}}
{{Olympic venues cycling}}
{{Atlanta landmarks}}
{{Georgia state parks}}
{{Stonewall}}
{{HFEC}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Stone Mountain| ]]
[[Category:Aerial tramways in the United States]]
[[Category:American Civil War museums in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Colossal statues in the United States]]
[[Category:Confederate States of America monuments and memorials in Georgia]]
[[Category:Equestrian statues in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Granite domes]]
[[Category:Herschend Family Entertainment]]
[[Category:Inselbergs of North America]]
[[Category:Ku Klux Klan in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Landforms of DeKalb County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Lost Cause of the Confederacy]]
[[Category:Monoliths of the United States]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials to Jefferson Davis]]
[[Category:Monuments and memorials to Robert E. Lee]]
[[Category:Mountains of Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Museums in DeKalb County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Olympic archery venues]]
[[Category:Olympic cycling venues]]
[[Category:Open-air museums in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Outdoor sculptures in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Parks in Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Plantations in the United States]]
[[Category:Protected areas established in 1958]]
[[Category:Protected areas of DeKalb County, Georgia]]
[[Category:Reliefs in the United States]]
[[Category:Rock reliefs]]
[[Category:Sculptures by Gutzon Borglum]]
[[Category:Sculptures by Walker Hancock]]
[[Category:Seven Natural Wonders of Georgia (U.S. state)]]
[[Category:Slave cabins and quarters in the United States]]
[[Category:Stonewall Jackson]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Atlanta]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in DeKalb County, Georgia]]
[[Category:United Daughters of the Confederacy monuments and memorials]]
[[Category:Venues of the 1996 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Sculptures of horses]]