Welcome to Google Sightseeing Reader Takeover Week! Every day this week, one of you has been chosen to have their very own sight posted here on GSS, while Alex and James take a well deserved holiday. Today’s sight is from Jerome - so have fun, play nice, and we’ll see you next week!

The name pretty much gives what it is away - Stone Mountain is the largest exposed mass of granite in the world (a mountain made of stone, haha). Formed over 300 million years ago by emerging magma from the earth’s crust, Stone Mountain is composed mainly of granite which is visible from miles around.

Apart from the geology aspect of it, Stone Mountain also boasts a bas-relief on the side depicting three figures of the short lived Confederate States of America - carved in 1909. Nowadays, a park exists encircling the mountain and the top of the mountain can be accessed by a 1.3 mile (about 2.1 km) hiking trail, or by taking a ride on the Skyride, an aerial tramway. Either way, the top provides a great view of the Atlanta skyline and surrounding suburbs. Last but not least, every week they hold the “world’s largest” 40 minute laser show near the carving.

An interesting note is that if you look at it in Google Maps, you can zoom out quite a bit and still notice the huge rock as a small whitish speck.

Find out a lot more about this huge piece of granite at Wikipedia or visit the official site.

The White House is, as we all know, the official residence of the President of the United States. But did you also know that the White House is the official residence of an Iranian immigrant?

Of course, I’m not talking about the original White House, in today’s world a man born in Iran would probably get shot for going near the White House, let alone pitching a tent. I’m instead talking about Fred Milani’s home in Atlanta.

Mr Milani, an Iran-born American citizen, built his mini White House in 2001. It boats 36 rooms and in terms of area is about 30% that of the original White House, although the layout is completely different.

Only six of the 36 rooms are bedrooms while the other rooms in the house include the “Monkey Room”, decorated with monkeys and leopard print, the “Queen Room”, with lots of pink pillows, and the “Oval office”. Oval here is used loosely as the room isn’t oval-shaped, but it does feature a replica of Abraham Lincoln’s old desk.

Other replica White House homes around the US include this one in Fairfax County, Virginia.

A smaller replica in San Antonio, Texas.

And lastly in Dallas, Texas there’s a “Red House” - A White House replica purportedly made out of red bricks.

You might say these replicas are all a bit tacky, but even the President’s White House is a rip-off. The original designs were based on Leinister House in Dublin, Ireland.

Thanks IBreakCellPhones, craigclarke and Bird’s Eye Tourist

Today is Martin Luther King Day, a US holiday which celebrates the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr - leader of the American civil rights movement, political activist and at 35 the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.

He was assassinated in 1968 and his remains are now held at the King Center, located just beside his childhood home. The white rectangle within a circle is Dr. King’s tomb, where there is also an eternal flame.

Probably the greatest speech of all time, Dr. King’s “I have a dream” was made to 200,000 demonstrators outside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Links: The Martin Luther King Jr National Historic Site and Martin Luther King Jr (Wikipedia).

Thanks: Trina

There’s nothing more Rock n Roll than a swimming pool in the shape of a guitar, so I wonder which rock god owns this pad near L’Estartit in Spain.

Actually, I take that back - having your whole house built into the shape of a guitar is truly Rock n roll, so hats off the the anonymous owner of this guitar house in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Thanks: Paul Raps & Bob Allen

Reader ‘William’ found these two ‘parachute training towers‘ at Ft. Benning in Georgia. I did a few Google searches but couldn’t get a conclusive answer on what exactly these parachute training towers are or who uses them. I’m guessing they’re the army’s idea of base jumping?

Here’s a whole bunch of Chinook helicopters at Hunter Army Air Field just outside of Savannah, Georgia. The CH-47 Chinook has been flying since 1961 and its twin contra-rotating rotors and twin engines allow for massive lifting power (over 12,000 kilos) and speeds of up to 183 mph (Wikipedia entry).

The BMW world headquarters in Munich, Germany is the ‘four-cylinder’ building (which was built top-down), while the famous logo is atop the BMW museum.

Over in South Carolina is BMW’s North American home. The rather-cool crescent moon shaped building is the BMW Zentrum, the only BMW museum in North America, and sits next to the only BMW manufacturing facility in the United States.

The factory exclusively builds the Z4 roadsters and X5 sports activity vehicles which are then distibuted worldwide via the Port of Brunswick. You can clearly see the hundreds of Beemers waiting to be shipped out.

Thanks: James, Jacob Tomaw, Carson Diltz, Paul, Jochen, Giampaolo Bellavite & Alex

This is Augusta National Golf Course, site of The Masters. Our image here is of ‘Amen Corner’, at the very bottom centre is the 12th green just over Rae’s Creek. There’s a map of the course over at the official site, but bear in mind it’s the other way up from the satellite image!

And yes, we realise we missed the masters this year, but I wasn’t sure you lot could wait another 10 months!

Thanks: Scott Mcdaniel, Rodney, David Burton, Jeff, Mark, Jon Livingston, Dave Austin, Bonehead, Robert Donlan, Kris Johnson, Stilt, Brian, bunchofgrapes, Chris B, Duane Homick, Stranger, Le6o, Matt Heinbaugh, Ben, Johan Lindholm, Amy and Michael Smith.