ROCK STARS

"But not only that... Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee . Let freedom ring from every hill & molehill of Mississippi . From every mountainside, let freedom ring..."

These were the memorable closing lines of Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s famous ‘I have a dream’ speech in Washington DC that electrified segregated America in August 1963. The place I’m writing about was in that speech — Stone Mountain, near Atlanta in Georgia. It was of particular significance for Dr King as this is where the notorious Ku Klux Klan was reborn in 1915. So when freedom rang there too, it was truly a victory for racial equality. Then, as now, place remains a draw, not for political reasons anymore though, but for a unique rock carving, even if the words ‘carving’ and ‘mountain’ vis a vis the US makes you think immediately of Mt Rushmore ... There’s a connection between the two, but more about that later!

Putting its controversial past behind it, Georgia has done a wonderful task of converting this granite mountain into an outing for the entire family! Stone Mountain Park even provided the venues for the Olympic events of tennis, archery and cycling during the 1996 Summer Olympics.

One can scale the mountain via the steep but picturesque walk-up trail or take the Skyride. All along the hike up, beautiful Georgia oak trees rear up majestically. There ‘s a railroad option too, that goes around the five mile circumference of the mountain and a boat ride for views from Stone Mountain Lake.

Geologically speaking, Stone Mountain is a 1,683ft high ‘granite dome monadnock’ (defined as a hill or mountain of rock rising above an eroded lowland) that is about a quarter of the size of Yosemite National Park’s famous dome. Incidentally, after it rains there, freshwater pools form on the summit that then become home to unusual creatures like the clam shrimp and fairy shrimp. They die when the water dries but leave behind eggs for the next rain!
The face of this rocky outcrop is carved with what is claimed to be the largest basrelief in the world. And the men thus immortalised are three ‘heroes’ of the Confederate States of Civil War times, as this is Georgia, the heart of the US Deep South — Stonewall Jackson, Robert E Lee and Jefferson Davis. They are all on horseback, riding from right to left across the mountain face, holding their hats to their chests.

When the carving was conceived in 1909, it was supposed to have depict marching troops as well but lack of funds stymied the project until 1923, when it was put underway by American artist Gutzon Borglum. He quit later amid controversy and went on to carve Mount Rushmore ! Work on Stone Mountain was restarted by Augustus Lukeman in 1925 but stopped again in 1928. In 1964 it was revived again — and finally completed in 1972, 63 years after it began!

On the other side of the mountain a plaque reads “A memorial to the valor of the soldier of the South” , a telling reminder of the tumult the region had seen in the 19th century. There’s also a museum in the Confederate Hall in Stone Mountain Park that tells visitors about the history of Georgia.

Since the association with the KKK was not something the state relished, it bought out the land in the and officially redeveloped it. Now a spectacular laser show seeks to underline a more inclusive picture of US history from the Civil War onwards . We too have many granite monoliths in India... Have we ever tried very hard to make them come alive for future generations as this one has?