"The Old Man of the Mountain" is no more

[TimmyB]

State landmark falls from mountain (http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/Northeast/05/03/old.man.mountian.ap/index.html)

FRANCONIA, New Hampshire (AP) -- New Hampshire awoke Saturday to find its stern granite symbol of independence and stubbornness, the Old Man of the Mountain, had collapsed into indistinguishable rubble.

I was away this weekend when I heard about it. (I thought the person who told me was joking.) Driving home last night (I live about 5 minutes away from the Old Man) we stopped and looked and there was just nothing there. It was like looking up and finding a hole in the sky.

So strange how a piece of rock could become so much a part of us.

[Skip]

That's really a shame. It's terrible to lose something so indentifiable and so iconic for a region or state.

Any word on what they mean by restoring it? How do you do that without it being a farce?

[rcartman28]

That is a shame. I suppose nothing lasts forever, even an icon like that. Just hope it was "natural" causes and not some other reason.

[TimmyB]

Originally posted by Skip
That's really a shame. It's terrible to lose something so indentifiable and so iconic for a region or state.

Any word on what they mean by restoring it? How do you do that without it being a farce?

Any word on what they mean by restoring it? The governor has set up a commission to investigate the possibilities. No one has an idea yet.

How do you do that without it being a farce? Exactly. The mystique of the original was that it was natural. Anything now will be... something else.

[TimmyB]

Originally posted by rcartman28
That is a shame. I suppose nothing lasts forever, even an icon like that. Just hope it was "natural" causes and not some other reason.

As best anyone can tell, from what I've read in the papers (this has been "front section" news), it was entirely natural. At least one forest worker went up and saw no sign of foul play.

The state has spent a lot of energy in the past 100 years at trying to maintain and preserve it. The same forces that made it were sure to bring it down, it was simply a question of when. (The shock of it all was that most of us never expected it to be in our lifetimes.)

[Craig S.]

I think the memory of what it was would mean more than whatever they could replace it with. It would just seem like reaching to do anything now.

[sweaver]

Gravity, dude. It brings us all down eventually.

[KCBOOMER]

Kind of a stunner. Seems like in my elem days (45+ years ago) I remember a story of a boy who wanted to know what living person resembled the "Great Stone Face" the most. As he journeyed through life he thought one well known personage or other was the man to bear the proper resemblance but they always came up short. Then it was realized by the town's people somewhat late in the boy's life he was the one who resembled it the most.

[satchel]

My heart goes out to Timmy and any other NH'ites around the NDF.

I am a little weirded out that a rock formation carved by a glacier 14,000 years ago could just suddenly give way like that. I mean, I know intellectually that it has to work that way, but I still find it a little creepy.

I'm so sorry you NH'ites lost your monument. I'm glad it was immortalized on your quarter! :)

[Ytown Tribe fan]

As I understand it, the formation had human help for awhile.

Off topic, but I remember when we first visited the Cliff House in SF, and I was shocked to see that a good part of the "Cliff" was being held up by what looked like wire mesh and plaster -- kind of a patch job or something.

I thought it odd that a famous natural formation would be considered natural after man had been propping it up for years. Like putting a pump in Old Faithful if it decides to stop spewing on a regular basis.

[satchel]

Originally posted by Ytown Tribe fan
As I understand it, the formation had human help for awhile.


That's true, but without that it would have just fallen some number of years ago quite small in comparison to 14,000. It still would have suuddenly given way after standing for about 14,000 years.

I don't think it detracts from the majesty of the natural formed thing that humans decided to keep it on life support for its last few "days" (geologically speaking).

Waxing philosophical, I suppose it just drives home the obvious point that neither natural nor humanmade monuments can last forever.

[SmedIndy]

Timmy - should have put something better on the state quarter (not that Indiana's is any better....):p

[TimmyB]

Originally posted by SmedIndy
Timmy - should have put something better on the state quarter (not that Indiana's is any better....):p

Yeah, something more everlasting... like an engraving of all the arcades and cars cruising up and down the strip at Hampton Beach. :D

[gyb13]

not surprisingly, i'd never heard of this face before...i just saw a photo...how large was it?

[TimmyB]

Originally posted by gyb13
not surprisingly, i'd never heard of this face before...i just saw a photo...how large was it?

In all the articles about it, this is all I've been able to find so far:

The Old Man is formed on a shoulder of Profile Mountain, which juts out abruptly into space, some 1200 feet above Profile Lake. It is composed of five layers of granite ledge, one exactly above the other, the lateral distance being 25 feet. Of these five layers one forms the chin, another the upper lip, a third the nose and two layers make up the forehead