Exterior of The Line

Twin Peaks Prop – Faces of Stone Photo

In Twin Peaks Part 4 on Showtime, Deputy Director Gordon Cole realizes the team is no where near Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Ever prepared, Special Agent Albert Rosenfield presents Cole with a photo of Mount Rushmore. While examining the photo, he remarks, “There they are Albert – faces of stone.” But did you know this isn’t the first time the “faces of stone” appeared in Twin Peaks? Let’s set the way back machine to Season 1.

FACES OF STONE PHOTO IN TWIN PEAKS SEASONS 1 AND 2

Big Ed and Sheriff Harry Truman
Episode 1.001

In Episode 1.001, Sheriff Harry Truman speaks with Big Ed about his stakeout while standing near the kitchen at the Twin Peaks Sheriff’s Department. Look carefully at the stacked pink boxes of doughnuts in the background. Notice the image behind the boxes.

Deputy walks by kitchen
Episode 1.004

It’s not until Episode 1.004 that we get a better picture of the kitchen and the image once buried behind boxes. Upon closer examination, it’s a calendar with an image of Mount Rushmore!!

Deputy Andy Brennan and Lucy Moran in the ktichen
Episode 2.006

By Season 2, the “faces of stone” calendar had disappeared from the kitchen. This was best seen in Episode 2006 when Deputy Andy Brennan speaks with Lucy Moran in the kitchen.

Meanwhile, back to South Dakota…

FACES OF STONE PHOTO IN TWIN PEAKS PART 4

Cole examines the Faces of Stone
Part 4
Faces of Stone
Part 4

Thanks to Albert, the “faces of stone” reappear during the car ride. But where did this image come from?

Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore photo rotated

I rotated the image in Photoshop and tried a Google Image search. The returned results identified to location as “monuments in Arizona.” Nope.

So I tried Getty Images and searched for “Mount Rushmore.” There were 36 pages of results but I still could not locate a match. Finally, I searched “Mount Rushmore Calendar” and was directed to Mount Rushmore National Monument website.

Mount Rushmore Photos
Mount Rushmore National Monument Website

I looked at the photos on the site and bingo – I found it! Check out the third image in the top row.

Mount Rushmore
Photo from Mount Rushmore National Monument website

To confirm the match, I compared the cloud formation above President Abraham Lincoln with the clouds in the image Albert presents Gordon. Looks like “faces of stone” to me.

The Mount Rushmore image from Twin Peaks Part 4 on Showtime is different than the calendar image from Season 1. It’s unclear I’ll be able to find a match but that won’t stop me from looking.

Author

  • Steven Miller at Twede's Cafe enjoying cherry pie and coffee

    A "Twin Peaks" fan since October 1993, Steven Miller launched Twin Peaks Blog in February 2018 to document his decades-long fascination with David Lynch and Mark Frost's wonderful and strange show. With his Canon camera in hand, he's visited numerous film locations, attended Twin Peaks events and conducted extensive historical research about this groundbreaking series. Along with fellow Bookhouse Boys, he dreams of creating a complete Twin Peaks Archive of the series and feature film. Steven currently resides in Central Florida.

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