Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center

The Lincoln Borglum Visitor Center & Museum is the main visitors center in Mount Rushmore National Monument [1]. It is located on the lower level of the Grand View Terrace [2] and is accessible by staircases on either side of the terrace or by elevators located on the Washington side of the monument.

Geared toward interactive education, the exhibits in the museum include a timeline of American history, including the Civil War, westward expansion, and the Indian Wars. Here you’ll learn about Mount Rushmore’s sculptor, Gutzon Borglum, and about the workers who carved a mountain while dangling off the cliff face.

Part of the fun of Mount Rushmore is gleaning the facts about what it takes to carve a mountain. Viewing the mountain and knowing that Washington’s nose is 21 feet long (a foot longer than any other president’s nose!), that all of the faces are 60 feet tall, and that it took 400 workers more than 14 years to create this icon adds to the experience.

There are two small theaters in the museum and two short films are available for viewing continuously throughout the day. There is a 14-minute film about carving Mount Rushmore and the artist behind it, filled with historic photographs of the carving and the period in which the work was done. The second film is a 12-minute presentation about the wildlife and ecology of the park.

A bookstore located in the visitors center is run by The Mount Rushmore History Association to benefit the monument. The store offers many books about Mount Rushmore [1] and the Black Hills [3] region, as well as books by local writers.