{"id":166,"date":"2009-05-04T12:42:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-04T12:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/genealogybank.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2024-08-16T09:33:24","modified_gmt":"2024-08-16T13:33:24","slug":"old-man-of-mountain-rip-3-may-2003","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/old-man-of-mountain-rip-3-may-2003.html","title":{"rendered":"Old Man of the Mountain – RIP 3 May 2003"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was six years ago that the Old Man of the Mountain fell.\"Photo:<\/a><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

His passing is as deeply felt today as when I heard the shocking news in 2003. It came across as a cable news bulletin. Hikers had heard the awful rumble in the early hours while it was still dark and when the sun came up they realized what had happened.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The next morning the quiet phone calls began … to my folks, my brothers – had they heard the news. They had. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

We were all born and mostly raised in New Hampshire. Old “Sawyer” prints of the Old Man of the Mountain hang on the wall. He’s on the license plates – the NH edition of the quarter. He was a solid part of our lives. Familiar. Always there. A part of the family, our heritage.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Newspapers have been commenting on the impact of his image for centuries. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Samuel Adams Drake wrote “This gigantic silhouette which has been christened the Old Man of the Mountain is unquestionably the greatest curiosity of this or any other mountain region”<\/em> (St. Alban’s Messenger<\/em> (VT) 16 July 1881<\/span>). <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Old Man was first “discovered” in 1805 by Luke Brooks and Francis Whitcomb who were charged by the town of Franconia, NH to survey the town. See NH Gazette<\/em> 25 June 1805<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the earliest descriptions of the Old Man was published in the <\/span><\/strong>Salem Gazette<\/em> (MA) 22 Nov 1825<\/span>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By 1827 a new stage line had “purchased good horses and carriages … and procured a careful driver” and organized the “Plymouth and Franconia” stage line, with runs twice a week past the Old Man – “a very level and pleasant route”. (NH Patriot<\/em> 15 Jan 1827<\/span>). <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was six years ago that the Old Man of the Mountain fell. His passing is as deeply felt today as when I heard the shocking news in 2003. It came across as a cable news bulletin. Hikers had heard the awful rumble in the early hours while it was still dark and when the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12713],"tags":[3152,5283,2039,1129,714,5320,1674,1829,443,1874,412,880,5366,27,734,733,1929,625,1077,1626,3157,735,842],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-genealogy-research-tips","tag-adams","tag-brooks","tag-carriages","tag-family","tag-genealogist-obituaries","tag-heritage","tag-id","tag-in","tag-ma","tag-ms","tag-new-hampshire","tag-new-york-times","tag-news","tag-newspapers","tag-nh","tag-old-man","tag-or","tag-pdf","tag-plymouth","tag-salem","tag-samuel-adams","tag-samuel-adams-drake","tag-vt"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100196,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions\/100196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}