Old Man of the Mountain is gone

Manchester Union Leader ^ | May 3, 2003 | Staff Reports

[billorites]

The Old Man of the Mountain has collapsed.

The beloved New Hampshire symbol fell from its rocky perch 1,200 feet above Profile Lake in Franconia some time within the past day.

Workers at the Flume reported the incident early this morning. It is unknown exactly when the face fell because it has been hidden by clouds and fog for more than a day.

Dick Hamilton, president of the White Mountain Attractions, said it appears the forehead fell and took the nose with it.

“I never thought I’d see the day this would happen,” said Hamilton.

The face was comprised of five stones turnbuckled to hold it in place. The rods that secured the face were still visible early yesterday. The face was first secured with cables and turnbuckles about 100 years ago and routine work on it was done on a regular basis.

It is unknown exactly when the famous profile collapsed because it has been hidden by clouds and fog for more than a day.

The face was discovered in 1805, and is believed to be one of the most photographed natural wonders in the Northeast.

It is unknown if any of the face is intact below its perch, or where the pieces might be. The area below the face is rocky and remote and some officials believe the falling pieces of the face may have broken even when they hit the ground.

It is also unknown exactly where the fallen pieces are located. No injuries have been reported.

The profile is located in Franconia State Park to the West of Route 93. The profile is about 40 feet tall and 25 feet wide and has been the subject of many poems. It appears on the New Hampshire quarter and on state road signs.

[CommandoFrank]

I am deeply saddened...

[Buckeroo]

Why in the world would anyone supprt a governmet that destroys the dignity of Americans?

[Aliska]

you can see that anywhere on Rte 5 or rte 10 in New England almost, that is quite a common scene in winter in the old smaller towns

Thanks for the help. I would still like to id the exact town if I can. I want to see that exact house.

Coos County? That's where my paternal ancestors came from and I am drawn to there. I might even like to move there but I don't know if I could handle the winters (snow is too high) and they don't have good heating methods. Lots of homes seem to have kerosene, bottled gas (might be ok), and wood heat.

[Aliska]

Thats an ugly picture .. propelling government as the controlling mechanism about your life.

I'm sorry. What ugly picture? Did you mean to respond to another poster?

[Aliska]

My ancestors came primarily from Dalton, but some lived in Jefferson and places around there. I would like to visit those places, not really because of genealogy but because I am drawn there because of the beautiful scenery and quaint towns.

[Jhensy]

Aw man that sucks! I've never seen it in real life, but I've seen it thousands of times... coins, stamps, textbooks, license plates(?); you name it. Sad.

[Buckeroo]

American government has lost all the basis about our individiual dignity. It now claims control about our minds with terms, such as "government controls upon liberty."

[dansangel]

I'm sorry - I don't understand the question. What non-supportive government am I supporting? I merely stated that it's a shame the "Old Man" has fallen.

[leftofright]

"Old Man" before the collapse: looks like John Kerry

"Old Man" after the collapse: what fate has in store for Kerry's campaign

[sauropod]

I LOVE Mt. Washington. Have been there as a kid and as an adult.

It is a unique place.

[eddie willers]

Old Man Of The Mountain Collapses

FRANCONIA, N.H., May 3, 2003

The "old man" as depicted on the New Hampshire quarter (AP) "I knew it would go sometime, I just didn't think it would happen in my lifetime" Amy Bahr, president of the Franconia Heritage Museum, saying she has long been aware that the natural profile could slide

(AP) The Old Man of the Mountain, a stern granite profile that symbolized the state's independence and stubbornness, is gone, likely the victim of the same natural forces that created it thousands of years ago.

A state park trails crew reported at about 7:30 Saturday that the 40-foot tall face was gone from Profile Mountain.

A handful of cables and epoxy on the rocky mountainside indicate where the face once gazed toward the east. Fresh scrapes on the slope were likely caused by the rock fall. No fallen parts of the face were distinguishable from the other boulders on the slope.

For almost a century, the state had used cables and epoxy to try to keep the face from collapsing from erosion and the natural freeze-and-thaw cycle.

Those who did the work warned that a collapse was inevitable, but few thought they would live to see it.

The profile was obscured by clouds on Thursday and Friday, so it is uncertain when it fell.

The Old Man appears on the New Hampshire quarter, on state road signs and on countless souvenirs and tourist brochures. Since the early 1800s, millions of tourists have traveled through Franconia Notch to view it.

The profile was about 1,200 feet above Interstate 93, about 65 miles north of Concord.

"I've just lost my number one attraction," said Dick Hamilton, president of White Mountain Attractions, a tourism group.

Hamilton has commuted through the notch every day for more than 30 years.

"I say goodnight to him every night when I go by," he said. On Friday night, he couldn't see the profile because of the clouds.

"I went by and said, 'Good night, boss, wherever you are."'

Daniel Webster, a 19th century New Hampshire statesman, once wrote, referring to the Old Man, "In the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."

Niels Nielsen, a state highway worker who died in 2001, was the profile's official caretaker from 1960 until a few years ago, when he passed the job on to his son.

Nielsen told an interviewer in 1999 he thought the Old Man would outlive him by many years.

"My gut feeling is that any baby that's born on this date, today, will not see the Old Man come down," he said.

Amy Bahr, president of the Franconia Heritage Museum, said she has long been aware that the natural profile could slide.

"I knew it would go sometime, I just didn't think it would happen in my lifetime," Bahr said.

Paul Hayward's family has operated an inn in nearby Sugar Hill since 1780. He said he was devastated by the loss.

"I'm glad my grandmother didn't live to see this," Hayward said.

[Physicist]

Design Inference Bump.

[putupon]

Too bad for NH it didn't happen a few years earlier and keep them from embarassing themselves with that boring design for their quarter.

[Buckeroo]

---

"What non-supportive government am I supporting?" -- dansangel

---

Your love of government taking away individual rights, liberties and freedoms.

[dansangel]

Your love of government taking away individual rights, liberties and freedoms.

Sir or madam, you are off-topic for this thread. Go away and pick a fight with someone else, someplace else.

[x]

The Great Stone Face, then, was a work of Nature in her mood of majestie playfulness, formed on the perpendicular side of a mountain by some immense rocks, which had been thrown together in such a position as, when viewed at a proper distance, precisely to resemble the features of the human countenance. It seemed as if an enormous giant, or a Titan, had sculptured his own likeness on the precipice. There was the broad arch of the forehead, a hundred feet in height; the nose, with its long bridge; and the vast lips, which, if they could have spoken, would have rolled their thunder accents from one end of the valley to the other. True it is, that if the spectator approached too near, he lost the outline of the gigantic visage, and could discern only a heap of ponderous and gigantic rocks, piled in chaotic ruin one upon another. Retracing his steps, however, the wondrous features would again be seen; and the farther he withdrew from them, the more like a human face, with all its original divinity intact, did they appear; until, as it grew dim in the distance, with the clouds and glorified vapor of the mountains clustering about it, the Great Stone Face seemed positively to be alive.

It was a happy lot for children to grow up to manhood or womanhood with the Great Stone Face before their eyes, for all the features were noble, and the expression was at once grand and sweet, as if it were the glow of a vast, warm heart, that embraced all mankind in its affections, and had room for more. It was an education only to look at it. According to the belief of many people, the valley owed much of its fertility to this benign aspect that was continually beaming over it, illuminating the clouds, and infusing its tenderness into the sunshine.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

[Poser]

The first time I saw it was 1961. I was 10. My father told me to take a good look because it probably wouldn't last much longer. In geologic time, he was sure right. I wonder what it's going to do to the businesses of my friends in the immediate area. If you've been there, you have probably stopped at Clark's Trading Post. I'll bet they are doing a heck of a business today.

Too bad, but it was going to happen sooner or later. The freezing and melting ice is what made it in the first place and that's what took it down.

[samantha]

My thoughts also that John Kerry could be the before the fall,and Jumpin Jim Jeffords the after the fall. Maybe Kerry will pose for the re-building of the structure. They can probably use computer graphics to duplicte this wonder of nature.

[Aliska]

No, I've never seen it. Am going to look up Franconia on the map.

On the news they are talking about rebuilding it. If you rebuild it, they will come lol.

Maybe they should stick a young man up there.

Better yet, we need a woman up there. Hillary Clinton would bring in the tourists.