Photos -- The Georgia Guidestones

In Elbert County, Georgia you will find one of the oddities of the American Southeast: the Georgia Guidestones.

From the album -- The Georgia Guidestone

Construction of the center portion of the Guidestones was completed in 1980, one year after an unknown benefactor under the pseudonym R. C. Christian hired Elberton Granite Finishing Company to build the structure.

Each face of the Guidestones contains the same message written in 8 different modern languages (English, Spanish, Swahili, Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian). A shorter message written in the ancient scripts of Babylonian, Classical Greek, Sanskrit, and Egyptian hieroglyphs is carved into the structure’s capstone.

The message reads:

• Maintain humanity under 500,000,000 in perpetual balance with nature.
• Guide reproduction wisely – improving fitness and diversity.
• Unite humanity with a living new language.
• Rule passion – faith – tradition – and all things with tempered reason.
• Protect people and nations with fair laws and just courts.
• Let all nations rule internally resolving external disputes in a world court.
• Avoid petty laws and useless officials.
• Balance personal rights with social duties.
• Prize truth – beauty – love – seeking harmony with the infinite.
• Be not a cancer on the earth – Leave room for nature – Leave room for nature.

An explanatory box located in the ground near the structure puts the purpose of the monument’s construction into a simple phrase: “Let these be Guidestones to an Age of Reason.”

Like other similar structures over the world, astronomical information can be gleaned from the stones. A plaque also tells of a time capsule located beneath the structure, but no date for opening the capsule is given.

The nature of the Guidestones along with the background of the benefactor remain mysterious and controversial. Several conservative Christian pundits have come out against the stones, saying they believe the Guidestones are Satanic in nature.  It has been featured in popular culture, namely the 2012 Canadian web series Guidestones and an episode of Brad Meltzer's Decoded.

The full album can be found here.

All photos taken with a Nikon D50.