Old Man Of The Mountain (other)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Old Man of the Mountain, also called the Great Stone Face and the Profile, was a series of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States, that appeared to be the jagged profile of a human face when viewed from the north. The
rock formation A rock formation is an isolated, scenic, or spectacular surface rock outcrop. Rock formations are usually the result of weathering and erosion sculpting the existing rock. The term ''rock formation'' can also refer to specific sediment ...
, above Profile Lake, was tall and wide. The Old Man of the Mountain is called "Stone Face" by the Abenaki and is a symbol within their culture. It is also a symbol to the
Mohawk people The Mohawk people ( moh, Kanienʼkehá꞉ka) are the most easterly section of the Haudenosaunee, or Iroquois Confederacy. They are an Iroquoian-speaking Indigenous people of North America, with communities in southeastern Canada and northern Ne ...
. The first written mention of the Old Man was in 1805. It became a landmark and a cultural icon for the state of New Hampshire. It collapsed on May 3, 2003.New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation: Old Man of the Mountain Historic Site
Accessed: 14 August 2012.
After its collapse, residents considered replacing it with a replica, but the idea was ultimately rejected. It remains a visual icon on the state's license plates and in other places.


History

Franconia Notch is a U-shaped valley in the White Mountains that was shaped by glaciers. The Old Man formation was likely formed from freezing and thawing of water in cracks of the granite bedrock sometime after the retreat of glaciers 12,000 years ago. The formation was first noted in the records of a Franconia surveying team around 1805. Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks, part of the surveying team, were the first two to record observing the Old Man. The official state history says several groups of surveyors were working in the Franconia Notch area at the time and claimed credit for the discovery.


Indigenous legends

According to Abenaki legend, a human named Nis Kizos was born during an
eclipse An eclipse is an astronomical event that occurs when an astronomical object or spacecraft is temporarily obscured, by passing into the shadow of another body or by having another body pass between it and the viewer. This alignment of three ce ...
. He became a good leader and provider for his community. Nis Kizos was successful enough to attend Kchi Mahadan, a great gathering of other communities to trade. Tarlo, a beautiful Iroquois woman, returned with him. They fell in love. Tarlo had to return to her birth village because its people had been struck by a sickness. Nis Kizos promised he would live at the top of the mountain. By day he would look out for her, and at night he would light a fire to guide her back. With winter fast approaching, the elders sent Nis Kizos's brother Gezosa to bring him back. He was unsuccessful because Nis Kizo maintained his promise. Tarlo died in her birth village of sickness. After the winter Gezosa went back up the mountain to bring the news of Tarlo and retrieve Nis Kizos. He found no signs of the existence of Nis Kizos and was stricken with sadness. On his way back down the mountain he looked back and found Nis Kizos had become part of the mountain as a stone face to look after the land. A modern addition to the Abenaki legend is that when Stone Face fell in 2003, he finally was re-united with Tarlo. The Great Circle was rejoined. Denise Ortakales published a children's book in 2005 called ''The Legend of the Old Man of the Mountain'', which relates the Mohawk legend of the stone face. In the tale, Chief Pemigewassat loved a maiden named Minerwa of the Mohawk people, which brought peace between their tribes for a long time. When Minerwa went back home to visit her dying father, Chief Pemigewassat promised he would stay and wait for her to return. However, the Great Spirit claimed him during the winter, and his people buried him facing towards Minerwa to watch for her return. His face was immortalized in the stone as the stone face, forever waiting and watching.


Post-colonial history

The Old Man became famous across the United States largely because of statesman Daniel Webster, a New Hampshire native, who once wrote: "Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men." The writer Nathaniel Hawthorne used the Old Man as inspiration for his short story " The Great Stone Face", published in 1850, in which he described the formation as "a work of Nature in her mood of majestic playfulness". The profile has been New Hampshire's state emblem since 1945. It was put on the state's license plate, state route signs, and on the back of New Hampshire's statehood quarter, which is popularly promoted as the only US coin with a profile on both sides. Before the collapse, it could be seen from special viewing areas along
Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
in
Franconia Notch State Park Franconia Notch State Park is a public recreation area and nature preserve that straddles of Interstate 93 as it passes through Franconia Notch, a mountain pass between the Kinsman Range and Franconia Range in the White Mountains of northe ...
, approximately north of the state's capital, Concord.


Collapse

Freezing and thawing opened fissures in the Old Man's "forehead". By the 1920s, the crack was wide enough to be mended with chains, and in 1957 the state legislature passed a $25,000 appropriation for a more elaborate weatherproofing, using 20 tons of fast-drying cement, plastic covering and steel rods and turnbuckles, plus a concrete gutter to divert runoff from above. A team from the state highway and park divisions maintained the patchwork each summer. Nevertheless, the formation collapsed to the ground between midnight and 2 a.m., May 3, 2003. Dismay over the collapse was so great that people visited to pay tribute, with some leaving flowers.


After the collapse

Early after the collapse, many New Hampshire residents considered replacement with a replica. That idea was rejected by an official task force in 2003 headed by former Governor Steve Merrill. In 2004, the state legislature considered, but did not accept, a proposal to change New Hampshire's state flag to include the profile. On the first anniversary of the collapse in May 2004, the Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund (OMMLF) began operating coin-operated viewfinders near the base of the cliff. When looking through them up at the cliff of Cannon Mountain one can see a "before" and "after" of how the Old Man of the Mountain used to appear. Seven years after the collapse, on June 24, 2010, the OMMLF, now the Friends of the Old Man of the Mountain, broke ground for the first phase of the state-sanctioned "Old Man of the Mountain Memorial" on a walkway along Profile Lake below Cannon Cliff. It consists of a viewing platform with "Steel Profilers", which, when aligned with the Cannon Cliff above, create what the profile looked like up on the cliff overlooking the Franconia Notch. The project was overseen by Friends of the Old Man of the Mountain/Franconia Notch, a committee that succeeded the Old Man of the Mountain Revitalization Task Force. The Legacy Fund is a private
501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...
corporation with representatives from various state agencies and several private nonprofits. In 2013, the board called a halt to further fundraising. They announced their intention to spend what was left on minor improvements and dissolve the board. The memorial was completed in September 2020. Other proposals that were considered but rejected include: * Architect Francis Treves envisioned a walk-in profile made of 250 panels of structural glass attached to tubular steel framework and concrete tower, connected by a tram, rim trail or tunnel through to the cliff wall at the original site. It won an American Institute of Architects Un-Built Project Award. * In 2009,
Ken N. Gidge Kennith Gidge (born May 26, 1946) is an American politician, artist, and inventor who served as a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives from the Hillsborough District 33. Early life Gidge was born deaf in one ear. As a result, h ...
, a state representative from Nashua, proposed building a copper replica of the Old Man on level ground above the ledge at the original site where hiking trails already lead.


Timeline of the Old Man

Details of the history of the Old Man of the Mountain include: * 17th millennium BC6th millennium BCNew England underwent the Wisconsin glaciation, the most recent ice age. Glaciers covering New England and post-glacial erosion created the cliff which would subsequently erode into the Old Man of the Mountain at Franconia Notch. * 1805 —
Francis Whitcomb Francis may refer to: People * Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State and Bishop of Rome *Francis (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Francis (surname) Places *Rural ...
and Luke Brooks, part of a Franconia
surveying Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...
crew, were the first white settlers to record observing the Old Man, according to the official New Hampshire history. * Early 1800s — American statesman Daniel Webster brought national attention to the profile in his writings. * 1832 — Author Nathaniel Hawthorne visited the area. * 1850 — Hawthorne published " The Great Stone Face", a short story inspired by his visit. The story's title became an alternative name for the formation. * 1869 — President Ulysses S. Grant visited the formation. * 1906 — The
Reverend The Reverend is an style (manner of address), honorific style most often placed before the names of Christian clergy and Minister of religion, ministers. There are sometimes differences in the way the style is used in different countries and c ...
Guy Roberts of New Hampshire was the first to publicize signs of deterioration of the formation. * 1916 — New Hampshire Governor
Rolland H. Spaulding Rolland Harty Spaulding (March 15, 1873 – March 14, 1942) was an American manufacturer and Republican politician. He was the 55th governor of New Hampshire from 1915 to 1917. Early life and education Rolland Harty Spaulding was the third son o ...
began a concerted state effort to preserve the formation. * 1926 — The formation appeared on all New Hampshire passenger, dealer, replacement, and sample license plates for this year. * 1945 — The Old Man was made the New Hampshire State Emblem. * 1955 — President Dwight D. Eisenhower visited the profile as part of the Old Man's 150th "birthday" celebration. * 1958 — Major repair work to the Old Man's forehead was undertaken as a result of a legislative appropriation the previous year. * 1965 — Niels Nielsen, a state highway worker, became the unofficial guardian of the profile, in an effort to protect the formation from vandalism and the ravages of the weather. * 1974 — From 1974 to 1979, each license plate validation sticker had a likeness of the formation. * 1976 — For the United States Bicentennial the formation was once again available on the state's license plate, but it cost an extra $5 and it could only be used as a front plate. * 1986 — Vandalizing the Old Man was classified as a crime under the state criminal mischief law. Under the law (RSA 634:2 VI) it is a
misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...
for any person to vandalize, deface or destroy any part of the Old Man, with a penalty of a
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...
of between $1,000 and $3,000 and restitution to the state for any damage caused. * 1987 — Nielsen was named the official caretaker of the Old Man by the state of New Hampshire. Beginning that year all passenger car license plates had a small image of the formation at the top. This practice continued through 1999. The license plates distributed after 1999 were redesigned to feature the Old Man of the Mountain much more prominently. * 1988 — A stretch of
Interstate 93 Interstate 93 (I-93) is an Interstate Highway in the New England states of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont in the United States. Spanning approximately along a north–south axis, it is one of three primary Interstate Highways ...
(which also runs jointly with U.S. Route 3 through the notch) opened below Cannon Mountain. The $56 million project, which took 30 years to build, was a compromise between the desire for a four-lane interstate and those who sought to limit the impact on the notch. * 1991 — David Nielsen, son of Niels Nielsen, became the official caretaker of the Old Man. * 2000 — The Old Man was featured on the state quarter of New Hampshire and became the graphic background on passenger car license plates. * 2003 — The Old Man collapsed. * 2004 — Coin-operated viewfinders were installed to show how the Old Man looked before its collapse. * 2007 — Design of an Old Man of the Mountain memorial announced. * 2010 — First phase of the state-sanctioned "Old Man of the Mountain Memorial" was unveiled. * 2011 — Profiler Plaza was dedicated on June 12. * 2020 - Memorial completed in September.AP: "Old Man memorial hopes for more volunteers" 14 September 2020
/ref>


See also

* List of rock formations that resemble human beings *
Mount Pemigewasset Mount Pemigewasset, or Indian Head, is a mountain in Franconia Notch in the White Mountains in Grafton County, New Hampshire. It lies near the town of Lincoln. The mountain is known for the distinctive cliff along the southern side of its summit ...
, another New Hampshire rock formation * Pareidolia *
Cydonia Cydonia may refer to: Music * ''Cydonia'' (album), a 2001 album by The Orb * "Cydonia", a track by heavy metal band Crimson Glory from '' Astronomica'' Places and jurisdictions * Kydonia or Cydonia, an ancient city state on Crete, at moder ...
, location of the "Face on Mars" *
Old Man of the Lake The Old Man of the Lake is a tall tree stump, most likely a hemlock, that has been bobbing vertically in Oregon's Crater Lake since at least 1896. The stump is about in diameter at the waterline and stands approximately above the water. Its s ...


References


Further reading

*


External links


The Day the Old Man Fell
via YouTube
The Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund

NH State Parks — An end is just a new beginning

19th-century paintings of the Old Man of the Mountain


{{Authority control Landmarks in New Hampshire Rock formations of New Hampshire White Mountains (New Hampshire) Landforms of Grafton County, New Hampshire History of New Hampshire Tourist attractions in Grafton County, New Hampshire Destroyed rock formations