State Nickname of South Dakota
The Palmetto State
SD is the Two-letter or Postal Abbreviation and S.Dak. is the Traditional or Standard Abbreviation for the State of South Dakota. It’s nickname “The Mount Rushmore State” became official in 1992. The nickname refers to the mountain sculpture created by Gutzon Borglum over 14 years.
It celebrates the epic four exalted American presidents: George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. South Dakota’s Black Hills provide the back-drop for Mount Rushmore, the world’s greatest mountain carving. These 60-foot high faces, 500-feet up, look out over a setting of pine, spruce, birch, and aspen in the clear western air.
The Mount Rushmore State is also featured on the South Dakota state flag.
Before that South Dakota was known as the “Sunshine State”, the “Coyote State”, the “Artesian State”, the “Blizzard State”, “The Land of Plenty”, and “The Land of Infinite Variety.”