New Hampshire is a pretty peachy land . Aside from have one of the most gleefully in - your - face mottos , it also was home to the Old Man of the Mountain . The “ Old Man ” – not a barbate grumbling cave denizen – was a establishment of ledges in the White Mountains above Profile Lake in Franconia Notch State Park . In profile , the ledges looked exactly like a man . First recorded in 1805 and discovered by the author of this piece in an overlong route misstep up the Eastern Seaboard in 1995 , the Old Man collapsed in May of 2003 .
The Old Man of the Mountain inspired America ’s great writer and thinkers . Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote his short story “ The Great Stone Face ” after ensure the Old Man . Daniel Webster write of it , " Men attend out their signs indicatory of their various trades ; shoemakers fall out a mammoth brake shoe ; jewelers a monster watch , and the tooth doctor fall out a gold tooth ; but in the mountains of New Hampshire , God Almighty has hung out a star sign to show that there He makes men . " Yes , the Old Man of the Mountain was kind of a grownup deal to Webster .
Though it would seem that a natural phenomenon would be built to last , the Old Man ’s forehead developed tiny cracks due to natural springtime thawing in the 1920s . It continue held together by chains until 1957 , when the New Hampshire State Legislature used elaborate methods of retrieval to keep it together . Despite that , the never - finish pushing of nature and historic period overwhelm the Old Man . It fell on May 3 , 2003 .
There is a monument for the Old Man of the Mountain at the location it fall and , from experience , Franconia Notch State Park is beautiful and is a must see for all . If you are lay waste to that you were never be able to see a rock and roll formation that take care like a human , fear not . There are some in Canada , Finland , Guinea , Hong Kong , Israel , Mexico and more ! And who knows , you may find one yourself in your backyard . Just check that it ’s not a garden gnome .
