Old Man of the Mountain
The Old Man of the Mountain ("The old man of the mountain") was a characteristic rock formation in the highlands of the US state of New Hampshire . It was destroyed on May 3, 2003 by a natural rock fall.
The formation consisted of five overhanging granite boulders which, when viewed from a certain point near Lake Profile, were clearly combined to form the profile of an old man. The "face" was discovered around 1805 by surveyors Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks. The "old man" became famous through a quote from speaker and politician Daniel Webster :
- “People hang up signs to point out their craft: shoemakers hang a giant shoe in front of their shop, jewelers a monster watch, dentists a gold tooth. But in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has put up a sign to show that He makes people here ”
Nathaniel Hawthorne placed the old man at the center of his short story The Great Stone Face (1850), describing him as "the work of nature in a whimsy of majestic playfulness"
As early as the 19th century, the rock face developed into a tourist magnet. It was also visited by several American presidents, so in 1869 by Ulysses S. Grant and in 1955 on the occasion of the 150th "birthday" of Dwight D. Eisenhower . In 1945 the "old man" was officially made the state symbol of New Hampshire. It appeared as a motif on a postage stamp in a series of the American Post in 1955, on which the American states were presented with their landmarks and motto, and in 2000 in the State Quarter of New Hampshire.
Despite decades of conservation measures, the rock formation was destroyed on May 3, 2003 by a rock fall as a result of natural erosion processes.
In June 2011, seven iron sculptures with the likeness of the broken rock original were mounted on granite blocks in the nearby Old Man Profiler Plaza . Depending on your height and your chosen position on the plaza, you can optically "mount" the iron profile of the Old Man on the mountain slope again. The square itself was covered with granite slabs on which the names of the plaza donors are carved.
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References and comments
- ↑ Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers 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.
- ^ A work of Nature in her mood of majestic playfulness.
- ↑ Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund , accessed November 5, 2011
Coordinates: 44 ° 9 ′ 38.2 ″ N , 71 ° 41 ′ 0.3 ″ W.