Mount Rushmore

Completed in 1941, "America's Shrine to Democracy" features four mammoth, 60-foot sculptures of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Carved into the Black Hills near Keystone, South Dakota, by Gutzon Borglum, the memorial draws more than 2 million visitors a year – but also its share of controversy. The U.S. Government in 1868 promised the Lakota Sioux they could keep the Black Hills "so long as the buffalo may range thereon," only to renege on the deal once gold was discovered. The nearby Crazy Horse Memorial was begun in 1940 to honor Native Americans, but some tribes continue to argue for the land to be returned.