Mount Rushmore: More Than Just a Pretty Sight, Visitors Say

KEYSTONE, S.D.—When Paul Rains and his family were still a 20-minute drive away from Mount Rushmore, the sight of the famous monument gripped him.

“We were seeing the statues way off in the distance, and it was just magnificent,” he told The Epoch Times on July 2. “It’s just such an iconic figure of American freedom … it just represents so much about this country and what we love.”

Rains traveled with his wife and their five children from their home near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They were among a steady stream of visitors to Mount Rushmore National Memorial on July 2—just before President Donald Trump’s July 3 speech at the site, followed by the nation’s 250th birthday celebration on July 4 in Washington. 

Military helicopters and a stealth fighter jet flew over Rushmore several times on July 2—practice sessions prior to Trump’s appearance, park rangers said—drawing “wows” from the midday Rushmore crowds.

The Rains family and others who spoke to The Epoch Times all agreed that seeing Rushmore in person was deeply moving—and especially memorable because it was part of their celebration of the nation’s semiquincentennial.

Having studied the history of Rushmore beforehand, Lisa Rains, Rains’ wife, said she respected the determination it took to build the monument. “It was 14 years of hard work,” she said.

People involved with Rushmore’s creation “had a vision for something that would last way longer than themselves,” she said. The monument embodies “that spirit of doing something excellently … for generations of Americans ahead,” Lisa Rains said.

She hopes her children walk away from the Rushmore experience with a greater appreciation for that ideal.

When he was a child, Richard Campos dreamed of visiting Mount Rushmore.

“It’s just been something I always wanted to witness and see for my own eyes,” he said.

Now 48, Campos finally got that chance. When he first laid eyes on the monument July 2, “my heart just dropped,” Campos said.

He said he was thrilled to share the experience with his wife and their three children—perhaps the start of a family tradition.

“I was telling the kids, maybe when they get older, they can bring their kids here,” he said.

His wife, Charity Campos, said, “What a great way for our kids to experience the 250th birthday, so it’s a big one for us.”

She and her husband taught their children about the four presidents depicted on Rushmore and helped them see how they shaped America.

Joel Bradley of St. Louis marveled at how sculptor Gutzon Borglum and his crews transformed Mount Rushmore into the memorial completed in 1941. 

Bradley said it struck him to see “God’s creation, and how man can shape and form it, and it’s still here, on God’s green Earth, for us to enjoy,” he said.

“What a place to be for our 250th anniversary for America!” he said.

For him, Mount Rushmore is “exuding our freedom.”

And, Bradley said, “I feel like it just shows that we have the tenacity to carve our presidents in the side of a mountain.”

He came with his girlfriend, Carmen Evans, who said she considered it “a blessing” that she and her children were able to come and experience Mount Rushmore—especially during “such a big year for America.”

Her son, Landon Evans, 17, said he appreciates the four presidents depicted on the monument—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln.

“They did good, they brought us in the right direction,” he said.

Bradley and Evans said they booked their Rushmore trip more than a year in advance.

But Randy Penn, who lives near Dallas, Texas, made a last-minute decision to add a Rushmore stop onto an existing itinerary.

“This is a special place,” he said, adding he was “pretty awestruck” to see the monument for the first time.

“If you wanted to sit here and just look at it, and try to remember what each president was about, it just makes you think,” Penn said.

As he considers this time in America’s history, Penn worries about communism. “It’s still a force trying to take over America,” he said. “We just can’t let it happen.” 

At the same time, however, he feels encouraged by Trump’s support for the military—especially because Penn’s son is a member of the armed forces.

Penn said visiting Rushmore made him appreciate being around “a lot of people enjoying America, and enjoying what it’s all about.”

“I wish everybody could just say ‘Happy birthday,’” and be united as a country, he said.

Some Rushmore visitors from other countries said they sensed great pride among Americans. 

Constance Kuhnert, who came from Germany with several traveling companions, said they marveled not only at Rushmore but at the American people.

When asked why they loved Rushmore, she responded, “It’s the spirit of America, the history; this is America.”

Kuhnert also said that, during the group’s three-week trek across several U.S. states, they found, “The people, they are proud, and they are happy, and they love their country.”

That level of patriotism is “not the same” in Germany, she said, adding, “It’s much better here.”