Darby Field (1610–1649) was the first European to climb
Mount Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...
in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
.
Biography
Of English ancestry, Field was born in
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a market town and inland port in the borough of the same name in the county of Lincolnshire, England. Boston is north of London, north-east of Peterborough, east of Nottingham, south-east of Lincoln, south-southeast of Hull ...
, England. His father was John Field of London. By 1636, he immigrated to
Boston, Massachusetts, and settled in
Durham, New Hampshire
Durham is a town in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 15,490 at the 2020 census, up from 14,638 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Retrieved March 23, 2011. D ...
, by 1638, where he ran a ferry from what is now called Durham Point to the town of
Newington, across
Little Bay
Little Bay is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Little Bay is located 14 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Randwic ...
. He was known as an Indian translator.
Field's ascent of
Mount Washington
Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.
The mountain is notorious for its erratic weather. On the afternoon of April 12, 1934, ...
, in 1642, when he was about 32 years of age, was recorded by Governor
John Winthrop
John Winthrop (January 12, 1587/88 – March 26, 1649) was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led t ...
of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony (1630–1691), more formally the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, was an English settlement on the east coast of North America around the Massachusetts Bay, the northernmost of the several colonies later reorganized as the ...
in his journal:
:"One Darby Field, an Irishman, living about
Piscataquack, being accompanied with two
Indians, went to the top of the
white hill. He made his journey in 18 days. His relation at his return was, that it was about one hundred miles from
Saco, that after 40 miles travel, he did, for the most part, ascend; and within 12 miles of the top was neither tree nor grass, but low savins
hrubs which they went upon the top of sometimes, but a continual ascent upon rocks, on a ridge between two valleys filled with snow, out of which came two branches of
Saco river
The Saco River (Abenaki language, Abenaki: ''Sαkóhki'') is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, Maine, Portland ...
, which met at the foot of the hill where was an
Indian town of some 200 people. Some of them accompanied him within 8 miles of the top, but durst go no further, telling him that no Indian ever dared to go higher, and that he would die if he went. So they staid there till his return, and his two Indians took courage by his example and went with him. They went divers times through the thick clouds for a good space, and within 4 miles of the top, they had no clouds but very cold. By the way among the rocks, there were two ponds, one a blackish water, and the other reddish
he_Lakes_of_the_Clouds.html" ;"title="Lakes_of_the_Clouds.html" ;"title="he Lakes of the Clouds">he Lakes of the Clouds">Lakes_of_the_Clouds.html" ;"title="he Lakes of the Clouds">he Lakes of the Clouds The top of all was plain about 60 feet square. On the north side was such a precipice [the Great Gulf], as they could scarcely discern to the bottom. They had neither cloud nor wind on the top, and moderate heat. All the country about him seemed a level, except here and there a hill rising above the rest, and far beneath them. He saw to the north, a great water which he judged to be 100 miles broad, but could see no land beyond it."
[Dunn et al, pp. 393-394]
Darby Field was remarkably accurate in the estimated distances, though the distant bodies of water were likely cloud-banks, and his description of the top of Mount Washington was likewise accurate. Field's feat would be repeated only a handful of times over the next 150 years.
The account of a party of hikers in 1816 shows that they followed Darby Field's notes as a guide and simply saw him as overenthusiastic at the summit; "The relation of Darby field, may be considered as in the main correct, after making reasonable deductions for the distance, the length of the
Muscovy glass
Muscovite (also known as common mica, isinglass, or potash mica) is a hydrated phyllosilicate mineral of aluminium and potassium with formula K Al2(Al Si3 O10)( F,O H)2, or ( KF)2( Al2O3)3( SiO2)6( H2O). It has a highly perfect basal cleavage ...
, and the quantity of water in view, which it may be suspected has not been seen by any visitor since his time."
At that time, mica (Muscovy glass) was used in the manufacturing of stoves and was quite an expensive commodity.
Darby Field and his wife Agnes would have five children before his death in 1649 at
Dover, New Hampshire
Dover is a city in Strafford County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 32,741 at the 2020 census, making it the largest city in the New Hampshire Seacoast region and the fifth largest municipality in the state. It is the county se ...
.
Mount Field in the Willey Range of the
White Mountains is named in his honor. Field is featured on a
New Hampshire historical marker
The U.S. state of New Hampshire has, since 1958, placed historical markers at locations that are deemed significant to New Hampshire history. The New Hampshire Division of Historical Resources (DHR) and the Department of Transportation (DOT) are j ...
(
number 11) along
New Hampshire Route 16
New Hampshire Route 16 (NH 16) is a , north–south state highway in New Hampshire, United States, the main road connecting the Seacoast region to the Lakes Region and the White Mountains. Much of its length is close to the border with Maine. ...
in
Pinkham's Grant.
Sources
*''Passaconaway's Realm'' by Russell M. Lawson, University Press of New England, Hanover NH 2002.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Field, Darby
British explorers
People of colonial New Hampshire
American mountain climbers
Mount Washington (New Hampshire)
1610 births
1649 deaths