18: Mount Rushmore: America’s Weirdest Monument (Part 1)

In this series, we’re talking about something… pretty weird! It’s the fact that, roughly 100 years ago, a handful of people thought it’d be a really good idea to carve four gigantic faces into the side of a mountain. But why did they do it? Whose idea was it?? And finally, they were so busy asking if they could… DID THEY EVEN THINK TO ASK IF THEY SHOULD??? In this episode, we take a look at the man who designed Mount Rushmore, Gutzon Borglum. We look at his childhood, his early career, his weird sibling rivalry, and we wrap up with the strange, true story of how he almost made Mount Rushmore: Confederate Edition! Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from: The book, “The Carving of Mount Rushmore,” by Rex Alan Smith The documentary, “Mount Rushmore” “The Sordid History of Mount Rushmore,” by Matthew Shaer for Smithsonian Magazine “The Carving of Stone Mountain,” PBS.org “Biography: Gutzon Borglum,” PBS.org “Biography: Mary Borglum” PBS.org “The heartbreaking, controversial history of Mount Rushmore,” by Amy McKeever for National Geographic Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts! Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.