Old Man of the Mountain

The Old Man of the Mountain was a famous rock formation in the United States. It was also called the Great Stone Face and the Profile. The formation was made of five granite cliff ledges on Cannon Mountain in Franconia, New Hampshire.[1]

When people looked at it from the north, the rocks looked like the side of a human face. The formation was 1,200 feet (370 meters) above Profile Lake. It was 40 feet (12 meters) tall and 25 feet (7.6 meters) wide.

The Abenaki people called the formation "Stone Face." It is an important symbol in their culture.[2] It is also a symbol for the Mohawk people.

The first written record of the Old Man was in 1805. It later became a famous landmark and a cultural symbol for the state of New Hampshire. Since 1945, it has been used as a state emblem.[3]

The rock formation fell down on May 3, 2003. Some people wanted to rebuild it, but that idea was not accepted. Even though it no longer exists, the Old Man is still shown on New Hampshire’s license plates and in many other places.[1]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Russell, Jenna; Tully, John (2023-05-05). "Why the Fuss Over a Rock Formation That Fell? Don't Tell New Hampshire That". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  2. ↑ "The Wobanadenok". Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective. 2018-12-06. Retrieved 2025-06-30.
  3. ↑ "State Emblem, New Hampshire Almanac". State of New Hampshire. Archived from the original on February 17, 2019.


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