Mount Rushmore National Memorial
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln are carved into the mountain
at Mount Rushmore.
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NPS
With funding from the National Park Foundation, Mount Rushmore National Memorial constructed a Stone Hoop ethnobotany garden (living sculpture) with culturally significant native plants and wayside signage on ecosystems, cultural plant use, and explanations of the significance of the garden’s stone circle.
Everything about the garden was designed to be fully integrated into the landscape, while also providing a beautiful location to enhance visitor enjoyment of the Memorial. Even the garden’s safety wall is now an art display. The panels of the safety wall were designed as a space to feature art with plans to use it as a rotating art exhibit featuring Native American artists.
The garden was brought to life in consultation with representatives of the park’s 21 Associated Tribal Nations. The design is based on ancient stone circles scattered throughout the Americas. Stone spokes extending from the center rock cairn with spokes extending from a center rock cairn pointing toward tribally significant locations in the Black Hills of South Dakota and beyond.