Stone Mountain Park

Located on 3,200 acres of natural beauty, adventure awaits as you discover interactive family friendly attractions and many natural and historical sights. Plus you won’t want to miss more than a dozen of fun annual events such as Spring FUN Break, Summer at the Rock, Yellow Daisy Festival, Indian Festival and Pow-Wow, Stone Mountain Christmas and Snow Mountain. Stone Mountain activities are suitable for all ages! Stone Mountain is open year-round, but attraction hours vary by season. Check our hours of operations and events calendar for schedules on the date(s) of your visit. Buy annual attraction passes online and be sure to check out our special offers and vacation packages. Stone Mountain Park is Georgia’s most popular attraction and features a wide variety of family activities, but its history is a dark and unsavory one. On November 25, 1915, a group of robed and hooded men met at Stone Mountain to create a new, more violent incarnation of the Ku Klux Klan. They were led by William J. Simmons, and they included a group calling itself the Knights of Mary Phagan. A cross was lit, and the oath was administered by Nathan Bedford Forrest II, the grandson of Gen. Nathan B. Forrest, and was witnessed by the owner of Stone Mountain, Samuel Venable. In 1923, Klan fundraising began to create a giant memorial dedicated exclusively to heroes of the Confederacy, and in October of that year, Venable granted the Klan easement with perpetual right to hold celebrations as they desired. The influence of the UDC continued, in support of Mrs. Plane's vision of a carving explicitly for the purpose of creating a Confederate memorial. The UDC established the Stone Mountain Confederate Memorial Association (SMCMA) for fundraising and on-site supervision of the project. Venable and Gutzon Borglum, who were both closely associated with the Klan, arranged to pack the SMCMA with Klan members. The SMCMA, along with the United Daughters of the Confederacy continued fundraising efforts. Of the $250,000 raised, part came from the federal government, which in 1924 issued special fifty-cent coins with the soldiers Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson on them, but would not allow the politician Jefferson Davis to be included.  When the state purchased the mountain in 1958, they had removed the Klan and voided Venable's agreement by condemning the properties.  Stone Mountain is a quartz monzonite dome monadnock and the site of Stone Mountain Park in Stone Mountain, Georgia, United States. At its summit, the elevation is 1,686 feet MSL and 825 feet above the surrounding area. Stone Mountain is well-known not only for its geology, but also for the enormous bas-relief on its north face, the largest bas-relief in the world. The carving depicts three figures of the Confederate States of America: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis. Stone Mountain is more than 5 miles in circumference at its base. The summit of the mountain can be reached by a walk-up trail on the west side of the mountain or by the Skyride aerial tram.