Editing Stone Mountain, Georgia (section)

==History==
[[File:Stone Mountain, Georgia City Hall and Police Station.JPG|thumb|Railroad depot]]

Stone Mountain's history traces back to before the time of European settlement, with local burial mounds dating back hundreds of years built by the ancestors of the historical Muskogee Creek nation who first met the settlers in the early colonial period.<ref name=" About North GA ">{{cite web
|url=http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Stone_Mountain
|title=Stone Mountain
|publisher=[[About North Georgia]]
|access-date=November 26, 2018
|archive-date=October 19, 2018
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181019121847/http://www.aboutnorthgeorgia.com/ang/Stone_Mountain
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

The [[Treaty of Indian Springs (1821)|Treaty of Indian Springs]] in 1821 opened a large swath of Georgia for settlement by non-Native Americans on former Creek Indian land, including present-day Stone Mountain Village. In 1822, the area that now makes up the city was made a part of the newly formed [[DeKalb County, Georgia|DeKalb County]].

===Settlement===
By the 1820s, Rock Mountain, as it was then called, was "a major travel center", with an inn for travelers. A stagecoach line linking the village with Georgia's capital, [[Milledgeville, Georgia|Milledgeville]], began in 1825. Another stage line ran to [[Winder, Georgia|Winder]] and [[Athens, Georgia|Athens]]. In 1828 another stage line began trips to [[Dahlonega]], and a fourth connected the community with [[Macon, Georgia|Macon]].<ref name=Freeman>{{cite book
|title=Carved in Stone. The History of Stone Mountain
|first=David B.
|last=Freeman
|publisher=[[Mercer University Press]]
|year=1997
|isbn=0865545472}}</ref>{{rp|27}} "Hundreds of people visited Rock Mountain in the summer [of 1828] and...a house of entertainment was nearby."<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|28}} Rail service did not reach the town, by then New Gibraltar, until 1845.<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|33}}

A post office was created in 1834 on the old Augusta Road, and Andrew Johnson, called the founder of New Gibraltar and first mayor,<ref name="Patch">{{cite web|url= https://patch.com/georgia/stonemountain/a-look-at-stone-mountains-rich-history|last=Delaney|first=Kim |publisher=Patch Media|date=Feb 17, 2011|access-date=January 7, 2019|title=A Look at Stone Mountain's Rich History }}</ref> around whose house the city limits were drawn,<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|32}} built a hotel along the road in 1836. ("An 1843 amendment to the act of incorporation extended the town limits to {{convert|600|yards}} in every direction from the house of Andrew Johnson."<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|31}}) About 1839 Aaron Cloud, who also had a hotel,<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|33}} built a wooden observation tower, octagonal like a lighthouse and {{convert|150|ft}} high, along with a restaurant and club, at the mountain's summit. A storm destroyed the tower in 1849; in 1851, Thomas Henry built a smaller, {{convert|80|ft}} tower, with telescopes so it could serve as an [[observatory]].<ref name=Freeman/>{{rp|29}} Visitors to the mountain traveled by rail and road, then hiked up the {{convert|1.3|mi|adj=on}} mountaintop trail to the top. By 1850, Stone Mountain had become a popular destination for Atlanta urbanites who endured the four-hour round trip by rail just to experience its natural beauty, lodging, and attractions.<ref name="gaencyclopedia">{{cite encyclopedia
|url=http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/geography-environment/stone-mountain
|contribution=Stone Mountain
|title=New Georgia Encyclopedia
|first=Bruce E.
|last=Stewart
|publisher=Georgia Humanities
|year=2004}}</ref><ref name=" About North GA " />

===Industry===
Granite quarrying at the mountain was the area's lifeblood for decades, employing many thousands. The excellent grade of building stone from the mountain was used in many notable structures, including the locks of the [[Panama Canal]], the roof of the bullion depository at [[Fort Knox]], Philadelphia's Liberty National Building, and the steps in the east wing of the [[US Capitol|U.S. Capitol]].<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title= Big market supplied by local granite|work=The DeKalb New Era |location=Decatur, GA |date= December 21, 1939 }}</ref>

In August 1846, New Gibraltar hosted Georgia's first state fair, then known as the Agriculture Fair and Internal Improvement Jubilee. The fair had just one exhibit—three horses and two cows, both belonging to the event's organizer, John Graves. The next year, the village again hosted the event, which featured caskets, marble, embroidery, brooms, bedspreads, vegetables, blooded stock, wheat, farm tools, and a magnetic telegraph. Stone Mountain hosted the event until 1850, when it moved to Macon.<ref name="Patch" />
[[File:Detail, Stone Mountain. 1908. Photo by Huron H. Smith. (4987035218) (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Stone Mountain in 1908]]

===American Civil War===
Though DeKalb County voted against [[Secession in the United States|secession from the United States]], it was not spared the devastation of the [[American Civil War|Civil War]]. Stone Mountain Village went unscathed until the [[Battle of Atlanta]],<ref name="SMHS"/> when it was destroyed by men under the command of General [[James B. McPherson]] on July 19, 1864.  Several antebellum homes were spared as they were used as hospitals. The railroad depot's roof burned, but the building stood, owing to its 2-foot-thick granite walls.<ref name=SMV150>{{cite book|title=Civil War Sesquicentennial 1861-1865 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2011 |publisher=City of Stone Mountain}}</ref>

From the village's destruction in July 1864 until November, Union forces scavenged Stone Mountain and the surrounding area, taking corn, wheat, cotton, cattle, and other goods. On November 15, 1864, between 12,000 and 15,000 Union troops marched through Stone Mountain and further destroyed the rail lines. The rails were rendered useless by heating them over burning railroad ties, then twisting them around trees. The term [[Sherman's neckties]] was coined for this form of destruction.<ref name=SMV150 />

===Birth of Shermantown===
[[File:Dixie Highway - DPLA - 37f7121a8dc91efc783acd7664a1b6dd.pdf|page=2|thumb|right|Advertisement for Stone Mountain from ''The Dixie Highway Magazine'', c. 1925.]]

After the Civil War ended, housing in the area was rebuilt as Stone Mountain granite was again in demand for construction across the nation. A significant portion of the quarry's work force were African Americans, but they were generally excluded from areas where white families lived, so a shantytown, Shermantown, came into being at the southeast side of the village; its name was a reference to Union General [[William T. Sherman]].

In 1868, Reverend R. M. Burson organized Bethsaida Baptist Church to serve Shermantown. A church building was then built under Reverend F. M. Simons at what is now 853 Fourth Street. Simons was among a delegation of southern African American pastors to meet with Sherman in Washington, D.C. after the war to discuss the treatment of the freedmen. Bethsaida Baptist is still an active part of the Stone Mountain Village.<ref name=SMV150 />

By the 20th century, much of Shermantown's original structures had been replaced. Bethsaida's original wooden structure was replaced by stone in 1920. Though Shermantown has mostly integrated into the growing Stone Mountain Village, it retains its own distinct community.

===Rebirth of the Ku Klux Klan===
The year 1915 was when the [[Ku Klux Klan#Second Klan|Ku Klux Klan]], a white supremacist organization, was reborn. Members assembled at Stone Mountain with permission of quarry owner [[Venable Brothers|Samuel Venable]], an active member. Their activities, including annual [[cross-burning]]s, continued for over 40 years, but Stone Mountain's association with the Klan began to erode when the State of Georgia began to acquire the mountain and surrounding property in 1958. In 1960, [[Ernest Vandiver|Governor Ernest Vandiver]] condemned the property the state had purchased in order to void the perpetual easements Venable had granted the Klan. This ended any official link between Stone Mountain and the Klan.<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://www.wabe.org/stone-mountain-and-rebirth-kkk-one-century-ago/
|publisher=WABE
|access-date=November 18, 2018
|date=November 25, 2015
|title=Stone Mountain and the Rebirth of the KKK, One Century Ago
|first=Stephannie
|last=Stokes}}</ref><ref>{{cite news
|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/shadow-stone-mountain-180968956/
|title=In the Shadow of Stone Mountain
|first=Benjamin
|last=Powers
|magazine=[[Smithsonian (magazine)|Smithsonian]]
|date=May 4, 2018}}</ref><ref name="ngeorgia.com">{{cite web
|url=http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Stone_Mountain_Carving
|first=Randy
|last=Golden
|title=Stone Mountain Carving
|publisher=[[About North Georgia]]
|access-date=November 22, 2018
|archive-date=January 26, 2013
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126010818/http://ngeorgia.com/ang/Stone_Mountain_Carving
|url-status=dead
}}</ref>

===Civil rights movement===
[[File:Freedom Bell, Stone Mountain, Georgia.jpg|thumb|right|Freedom Bell on Main Street]]

During the [[civil rights movement]]'s [[March on Washington]], on August 28, 1963, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] referred to Stone Mountain in his iconic "[[I Have a Dream]]" speech when he proclaimed, "let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!"<ref>{{cite web|last=King|first=Martin Luther Jr. |author-link=Martin Luther King Jr. |title=I have a Dream|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/mlk01.asp|publisher=Lillian Goldman Law Library|access-date=October 8, 2011|date=August 28, 1963|quote=Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!}}</ref> Charles Burris, the Village's first African-American mayor, dedicated the Freedom Bell on Main Street in King's honor on February 26, 2000. At an annual ceremony held on [[Martin Luther King Jr. Day]], the bell is rung to commemorate King's legacy.

===Many names===
The mountain has been known by countless names throughout the centuries. It was called Crystal Mountain by 16th-century Spanish explorer [[Juan Pardo (explorer)|Juan Pardo]] when he visited in 1567. The [[Creek indians|Creek Indians]] who inhabited the area at that time used a name translating to "Lone Mountain". Around the turn of the 19th century, settlers called it Rock Mountain or Rock Fort Mountain.<ref name=" About North GA " />  By the end of the 1830s, Stone Mountain had become the generally accepted name. Like the mountain, the village formed at its base was initially known as Rock Mountain but was incorporated as New Gibraltar in 1839 by an act of the General Assembly. In 1847 the Georgia legislature changed the name to Stone Mountain.<ref name="SMHS">{{cite web|url= https://stonemountainhistoricsociety.org/about-2/|publisher=Stone Mountain Historical Society|access-date=November 18, 2018|date=2014|title=About our Village}}</ref>

===Cemetery===
The Stone Mountain Cemetery, established around 1850, is a microcosm of the village's past. It is the final resting place for roughly 200 unknown Confederate soldiers. 71 known Confederate soldiers are buried there, along with James Sprayberry, a Union soldier. Another notable site is the grave of George Pressley Trout, who is buried there with his wife and his horse.<ref name="Patch" /> James B. Rivers, the village's first African American police chief, is at rest there on a hillside facing the mountain. The cemetery is still in use.