Crazy Horse Memorial
Earlier this year I got to go on a little trip to South Dakota. I got to go see Strugis, Mount Rushmore, Wall Drug and the Crazy Horse Memorial Monument, which isn’t far from Mount Rushmore. It is currently still under construction but is open to the public to come and view. Construction started in 1948 on the privately owned land by the sculptor Korczak Ziolkowski. Korczak was commissioned by the Lakota elder, Henry Standing Bear to memorialize, honor, and bring remembrance to Crazy Horse. Crazy Horse was is one of the most well know Native American warriors, most famously know from the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Construction of the sculpture stopped for a while and has recently started again. The museum there on site is run by Korczak’s descendants. The museum houses a model of what the sculpture will look like and many other neat artifacts from the tribe to include a Teepee, that you can go inside of . They offer tours and host many events throughout the year, to include a laser light show, similar to one that I discussed in my Stone Mountain Park post, and they also host events, like weddings. It is a beautiful site, and getting to see it being under construction was really interesting. As a kid, learning about Mount Rushmore always fascinated me in how they constructed it and made me wonder what it would have been like to witness that, and seeing the equipment as well as the current state of the Crazy Horse Memorial gave me that same sense of wonder. They also have a non-profit foundation that funds the construction.I am linking their website down below so anyone interested in donating, learning more on the history, or seeing the upcoming events. You can also find them on social media under “crazyhorsememorial”. I really enjoyed getting to go and see the memorial, I love getting to go to locations with lots of history, and this is one of them.
