1

European origins

Image: Martin Zenker

Lawns — and by lawns we mean closely mown grassy spaces — began appearing in 17th- and 18th-century Britain and France as signs of wealth. This was because only aristocrats or large estates could afford to keep grass short and manageable.

Before mechanized tools, scythes, shears, or grazing animals were used to maintain lawns, so turf was largely limited to those who could own the necessary manpower or animals. Early American colonists imported these aesthetics and tried to replicate them in their architecture and homes, albeit less formally.

2

Public parks set the bar

Image: Carl Newton

Early urban park designers, strongly influenced by European landscaping ideas, laid out wide expanses of turf in city parks, showing the public a "civilized" green aesthetic. That made clipped lawns part of the civic-space ideal, and not just a private luxury.

These parks helped cement the association between grass lawns, order, leisure, and modern urban life in American culture.

3

Mechanical breakthroughs

Image: Daniel Watson

In 1830, English engineer Edwin Beard Budding patented the first mechanical lawn mower, inspired by a wool-mill reel used to trim cloth.

Budding’s design used a cylinder of blades powered by a rear roller, making it easier to cut grass evenly, and largely replaced laborious scything or grazing, cutting down the cost of maintaining such status symbols in the process.

4

Et pluribus lawnus

Image: Gang Hao

Once affordable lawn mowers—including lighter push-mower variants in America—became popular, maintaining a lawn became feasible for aspiring middle-class homeowners.

This sparked a major transformation in both private and public architecture, as many well-to-do homes that before could not afford it began attempting to replicate the European lawn style in some fashion or another.

5

Suburban dreams

Image: Venrick Azcueta

For decades, lawns remained a steady feature of American architecture and green-space design; however, it wasn’t until after WWII that the true lawn boom began. Returning veterans and government-backed mortgages fueled rapidly expanding suburbs.

Developer William Jaird Levitt and his company built thousands of nearly identical homes, each with its own front and back lawn. By the 1950s and ’60s, lawns had become central to the "American Dream," symbolizing stability, middle-class respectability, and neighborhood uniformity.

6

A bit of chemical help

Image: Victor Furtuna

After the war, synthetic fertilizers (derived partly from wartime chemical technologies) became widely available to consumers, enabling lush, uniform lawns even in soil and climate conditions unsuited to grass.

This lowered the barrier to achieving a "perfect" lawn, further popularizing lawns as part of the American identity and raising the expectations of what the perfect lawn should look like.

7

Begone, pesky weeds!

Image: Dmitry Burdakov

In addition to fertilizers, in 1944, researchers discovered 2,4‑Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), the first widely effective selective herbicide — killing broadleaf weeds while leaving grasses largely unharmed.

Deployed commercially soon after WWII, 2,4-D made maintaining uniform, weed-free lawns much easier and was quickly adopted in home lawn products.

8

Thou shalt keep thy lawn green

Image: Tiago Rodrigues

As suburbs proliferated, lawn maintenance became a shared social norm — homeowners' associations and neighborhood covenants often started to expect regular mowing and upkeep.

Keeping a well-groomed lawn became not just an aesthetic choice but also a mark of civic responsibility and conformity to norms.

9

Environmental worries

Image: Rémi Müller

By the mid- to late 20th century, the ecological cost of the lawn aesthetic became visible: heavy water use for irrigation, chemical runoff from fertilizers and herbicides, and reduced biodiversity as a consequence.

These drawbacks spurred both scientific and public debate about the sustainability of the traditional lawn model — especially in water-scarce regions, where it was both impractical and resource-intensive.

10

The birth of mixed lawns

Image: Ruben Sukatendel

Growing environmental awareness, droughts, and changing tastes have prompted many homeowners and municipalities to adopt drought-tolerant landscaping, native plants, or mixed-species yards instead of the traditional uniform turf.

As a result, today the "ideal lawn" is evolving as we speak: classic turfgrass still remains common, but alternative yard styles now offer more varied ecological, economic, and aesthetic options.

1

The original plan included full-body figures

Image: Thomas Shockey

Mount Rushmore was supposed to be even more colossal than it already is. Sculptor Gutzon Borglum envisioned the four presidents carved from the waist up .

He even made plaster models showing Abraham Lincoln's coat folds and Teddy Roosevelt’s hand clutching his lapel. But as costs went up, Congress said: "heads only, please."

2

Charles Rushmore was just a curious New Yorker

Image: Maarten van den Heuvel

Back in 1925, when the mount was about to be carved into a monument, Charles Rushmore wrote a letter explaining why the peak bore his name. He recalled that in the 1880s he was a young New Yorker working in the area, and fell fond of that particular granite peak .

When he asked the locals about it, they informed him that it had no name, but that if he wished so, they would just start calling it Rushmore Peak, or Mount Rushmore, or the likes. Years later, that very name had been inscribed in the public domain to designate the peak.

3

Yes, there’s a hidden room behind Lincoln’s head

Image: Laura Nyhuis

Behind Abraham Lincoln’s hairline lies a hidden chamber, part of Borglum’s lofty idea for a "Hall of Records." This room was meant to house foundational American documents like the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.

Instead of that, in 1998, a titanium box was placed inside, filled with copies of important documents and biographies, as a time capsule to preserve the treasure of knowledge for future generations.

4

Thomas Jefferson was moved

Image: Dave Baraloto

Jefferson was originally supposed to go to Washington’s right, but after 18 months of chiseling , the granite betrayed them. Cracks and flaws made the site unworkable.

Borglum made the painful decision to blast Jefferson’s half-formed face clean off and start anew on Washington’s left.

5

The mountain was almost a monument to western heroes

Image: Timberly Hawkins

Before presidents took over, the mountain was pitched as a giant tribute to the Wild West . South Dakota historian Doane Robinson wanted to see frontier legends like Lewis & Clark carved into the Black Hills.

But when Borglum came aboard, he had a grander (and more politically bankable) idea: four presidents to symbolize national unity and expansion.

6

A woman’s face was almost added

Image: Tom Fournier

In the 1930s, there was serious talk of honoring Susan B. Anthony alongside the Founding Fathers, as a nod to the women’s suffrage movement.

Borglum wasn’t opposed to the idea, but Congress quickly nixed it, stating that only U.S. presidents could be included.

7

The workers were mostly local miners and loggers

Image: Pixabay

They were neither sculptors nor artists. Most of the workforce came from nearby Keystone, South Dakota: miners, loggers, and hard-up laborers looking for work during the Great Depression.

Borglum trained them himself. There were no safety harnesses, and yet, remarkably, no one died on the job.

8

Dynamite did 90% of the work

Image: Alexander Paramonov

To carve the faces of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln, workers used carefully timed dynamite blasts to remove over 450,000 tons of rock. They got so precise, they could blast within inches of where the final surface would be.

The last details, like wrinkles, pupils, or Roosevelt’s glasses, were done with jackhammers and chisels.

9

The noses are disproportionate

Image: Dudubangbang Travel

Standing in front of the mountain, the faces seem alright. But that’s a trick of perspective. Each presidential nose is a whopping 20 feet long .

If the sculptures had included full bodies as planned, each figure would have stood 465 feet tall. That’s taller than the Statue of Liberty and most downtown skyscrapers.

10

Teddy Roosevelt was the most controversial pick

Image: Dudubangbang Travel

Washington, of course. Jefferson, made sense. Lincoln, sure. And Teddy? Some critics raised their eyebrows at Borglum’s fourth choice. Roosevelt had only recently passed away in 1919, and many questioned whether he'd stood the test of time.

But Borglum defended the decision Roosevelt’s role in breaking up monopolies, conserving national parks, and engineering the Panama Canal. Plus, Borglum had met him personally and was a fan.

11

It was supposed to have inscriptions

Image: Dan Pick

Borglum had grander plans than just four giant heads. He wanted to carve a massive inscription next to them, a timeline of America’s most important milestones , chiseled straight into the mountain. In time, the idea was scrapped for practical and aesthetic reasons.

12

The visionary died before completion

Image: Lisa Reichenstein

Gutzon Borglum, the visionary behind it all, didn’t live to see his masterpiece finished. He died in March 1941, just as the construction was reaching its end. His son, Lincoln Borglum (yes, named after that Lincoln), took over the project.

Still, with WWII drawing resources elsewhere, funding was slashed, and Lincoln had to wrap things up quickly . Some features, like Lincoln’s ear, were never fully detailed.

1

Edward Furlong

Image: Logan Voss

Moving on from childhood is a natural transition for most people, except for child actors, who often experience it as a kind of identity loss, since they are publicly connected to their younger selves.

Edward Furlong is forever known as John Connor , the kid from Terminator 2: Judgment Day . Though he has appeared in some movies in minor roles, he never truly moved beyond his most famous role.

2

Macaulay Culkin

Image: Liubomyr Vovchak

One of the most famous child actors of all time, Macaulay Culkin, became a phenomenon with Home Alone , released more than 30 years ago. The film made him a household name.

Since then, Culkin has appeared in a few minor roles, but nothing approaching the impact of the movie that made him famous.

3

Carrie-Anne Moss

Image: Markus Spiske

Released in 1999, The Matrix quickly became a cultural phenomenon, and Carrie-Anne Moss shot to fame as Trinity .

She later appeared in the sequels and in a few Marvel projects, but Trinity remains her most iconic and defining role.

4

Tobey Maguire

Image: Stem List

Tobey Maguire became a Hollywood star thanks to his role as Peter Parker in Spider-Man (2002) , with his upside-down kiss scene becoming iconic.

He returned for Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 before the franchise was rebooted with a new actor. But he reprised the role in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), earning widespread acclaim from fans. So far, it remains the biggest role of his career.

5

Helen Hunt

Image: Ralf Sauter

Helen Hunt won four Emmys and three Golden Globes for Mad About You , and later earned an Oscar for As Good as It Gets .

Despite these honors, her later roles didn’t match the staying power of those roles. The Sessions (2012) marked one of the last peaks of her career in terms of critical acclaim, even though she has continued to take on other roles since then.

6

Demi Moore

Image: Taylor Heery

Demi Moore has often made headlines for her personal life, and while her acting career has included other notable roles ( G.I. Jane , A Few Good Men ), there is one that has truly stood the test of time.

Ghost (1990) , in which she starred alongside Patrick Swayze , remains her most successful and iconic role to this day.

7

Elijah Wood

Image: Ergo Zakki

Elijah Wood has taken on a variety of roles in films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Green Street Hooligans , as well as series like Wilfred and Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency .

But despite his diverse work, most people still remember him best as Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings trilogy .

8

Anthony Perkins

Image: Maxime Roedel

Perhaps one of the earliest examples of an actor best known for a single role, Anthony Perkins is remembered above all for his portrayal of the murderous motel owner Norman Bates in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1960 thriller Psycho .

He reprised the role in three sequels, none of which matched the success of the original film.

9

Christopher Reeve

Image: MeSSrro

Christopher Reeve became forever linked with Superman , a role that brought him both fame and typecasting. He chose roles carefully, hoping to protect the image of the character he had defined.

In his 1998 memoir Still Me , Reeve reflected on life before and after his 1995 accident, noting that Superman had both opened and limited doors in his acting career.

10

Hugh Jackman

Image: Jack O'Rourke

A man of many talents, Hugh Jackman is an actor, singer, and producer. But he is forever linked to the character that brought him international fame: Wolverine , from the X-Men film franchise .

Although he’s acclaimed for roles in The Greatest Showman and Les Misérables and has appeared in numerous films and stage shows, winning many awards, he is still best known to this day for his role as the mutant superhero.

11

Daniel Radcliffe

Image: Artem Maltsev

Another famous child actor, Daniel Radcliffe, rose to fame at age twelve for portraying the title character in the Harry Potter film series . He starred in all eight films, from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 .

He has since appeared in a variety of roles, but none has matched the impact of his most famous one.

12

Mark Hamill

Image: Venti Views

The last entry on this list is one of the most iconic examples of an actor identified with a single role. Mark Hamill is best known for starring as Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars franchise .

And although he has also built a strong career as a voice actor (notably as the Joker), the movies were such a cultural phenomenon that his persona became forever linked to this character.