STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — The board overseeing a mountain park near Atlanta with a giant carving of Confederate leaders voted Monday to relocate Confederate flags from a busy walking trail and create a museum exhibit that acknowledges the site’s connection to the Ku Klux Klan.
The moves were part of an effort by the Stone Mountain Memorial Association to address criticism of the park’s Confederate legacy and shore up its finances. The chairman of the association’s board promised more changes.
“We’ve just taken our first step today to where we need to go,” the Rev. Abraham Mosley said at a news conference after the vote. Mosley, appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp last month, is the board’s first African American chairman.
The board did not address the carving at Monday’s meeting, but Mosley did not rule out changes to it in the future.
The colossal sculpture of Gen. Robert E. Lee, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson on the mountain’s northern face shows the three leaders mounted on horseback. Completed in 1972, it measures 190 feet (58 meters) across and 90 feet (27 meters) tall.
