# NH: Where Was The "Old Man"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137 "2005-09-05T01:54:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/1 "2005-09-05T01:54:15Z")
Just came back from New England to learn that the “Old Man of the Mountain” collapsed a few years ago. We passed through Crawford’s Notch where some of the mountains had some amazing rocky cliffs jutting out. Was this where the Old Man was? If not, was it visible from the road? What route? What “notch” (as NH has several). Tell me more! - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![CantUseMyRealName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@CantUseMyRealName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CantUseMyRealName)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/2 "2005-09-05T02:04:40Z")
he was on cannon mountain, overlooking franconia notch. ---
**Author:** ![CantUseMyRealName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@CantUseMyRealName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CantUseMyRealName)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/3 "2005-09-05T02:09:46Z")
"The Old Man of the Mountain may be viewed from Interstate 93, northbound, in Franconia State Park from several cutout parking areas. The area is well marked and you will have no trouble locating the viewing areas. Southbound on Interstate 93, take Exit 2 into the Canon Mt Tramway parking lot and follow the signs for the “Old Man viewing area”. " i went to school in nh, and he always gave me the creeps. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/4 "2005-09-05T04:26:59Z")
As others have said, the Old Man was on the side of Cannon Mountain in Franconia Notch. From Crawford Notch, where you were, Franconia is south and west. I-93 goes through Franconia Notch, although that section of road is also called the Franconia Parkway as it passes through. [Old Man before](http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/whites/skookumchuck/om2.jpg) [Old Man after](http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/whites/ike2/oldman.jpg) Both shots are taken from the same spot. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/5 "2005-09-05T13:56:30Z")
Yikes! He really was a creepy sumbitch, before the collapse. After, he looks a bit like one of those Easter Island statues 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Squee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ba9def/32.png) [@Squee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squee)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/6 "2005-09-05T14:56:48Z")
It is funny, I never knew about the “old man” before I looked at the NH state quarter. From the pics linked to, it looks like they did a pretty nice job on his likeness. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/7 "2005-09-05T21:37:19Z")
The hilarious thing is, the state won’t let go of it. It is still featured on all the state roadsigns, NH license plates, and the state quarter. At the Franconia Notch State Park, they installed [viewfinders that substitute a 3d photograph](http://newhampshireprimary.com/articles_showa.html?article=37079) of what it used to look like. New Hampshiremen are stubborn, they are! ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/8 "2005-09-05T21:42:48Z")
Well there’s another Simpsons reference that I just got. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/9 "2005-09-05T21:46:20Z")
The part I always found interesting about the Old Man is that the rock formation only resembled a human face from that one angle…from head on, say, the various ledges that made up the face were nowhere near each other and didn’t form anything recognizable. Also apparently it was some years before anyone noticed the profile…the local Indians for instance never claimed there was anything interesting to see there. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2005, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/10 "2005-09-05T21:57:51Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > The part I always found interesting about the Old Man is that the rock formation only resembled a human face from that one angle…from head on, say, the various ledges that made up the face were nowhere near each other and didn’t form anything recognizable. > > Also apparently it was some years before anyone noticed the profile…the local Indians for instance never claimed there was anything interesting to see there. Even from that one angle it’s kind of a leap for me to see an old man. I’d think the state would have something more remarkable to put on its quarter. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/11 "2005-09-06T02:30:16Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > The hilarious thing is, the state won’t let go of it. It is still featured on all the state roadsigns, NH license plates, and the state quarter. At the Franconia Notch State Park, they installed [viewfinders that substitute a 3d photograph](http://newhampshireprimary.com/articles_showa.html?article=37079) of what it used to look like. New Hampshiremen are stubborn, they are! The people of the state have no desire to let go of the Old Man. The State Quarter we can’t do anything about, it was already minted and distributed before it fell down, there’s not much that can be done there. He’s the state symbol, regardless of whether it’s still up there. There’s no reason to remove it from the roadsigns or license plates. What would be the point, the symbol still conveys the same point. I run a web site about the Whites and after the Old Man fell I received several email from folks who were very serious about rebuilding him on the cliffside. Fortunately, he had DNR, but some folks couldn’t let go for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/12 "2005-09-06T03:01:18Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > He’s the state symbol, regardless of whether it’s still up there. There’s no reason to remove it from the roadsigns or license plates. What would be the point, the symbol still conveys the same point. It’s just sad and a little pathetic, when tourists say, "Where’s that famous ‘Old Man’ we heard about, and all the locals can do is point and say, “He used to be up there.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/13 "2005-09-06T11:27:40Z")
Not obnly is it on the state quarters and all the state road markers and all the state license plates, it was immortalized in a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne: > **[The Great Stone Face, and Other Tales of the White Mountains by Nathaniel...](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1916)** > > Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by Project Gutenberg. Of course, the stuff about the tough old face carved out of granite lasting forever seems pretty pointless now. My daughter MilliCal says that the new face looks like the Old Lion of the Mountain. I don’t see it myself. If you still qwant to see faces in New Hampshire mountains, you can go a few exits south and see the head at Indian Head. There’s even an incrediblt rickety lookout tower you could climb up to see it (at least there used to be). There was also a “Little Old Man” you could see igf you rode up the Cog Railway on Mount Washington, several exits to the north. And Clarke’s Trading Post not far from the real Old Man built its cl;imbing wall so that it has the likeness on it. (The climbing wall at Canobie Lake Park in Salem, N.H. doesn’t have a likeness, even though it’s called “The Old Man of the Mountain”.) ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/14 "2005-09-06T12:09:54Z")
> [@](#): > > If you still qwant to see faces in New Hampshire mountains, you can go a few exits south and see the head at Indian Head. I kind of like the elephant head in Crawford notch, myself. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2005, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nh-where-was-the-old-man/320137/15 "2005-09-06T14:56:30Z")
Daniel Webster once wrote; Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades. Shoemakers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers, a monster watch; even a dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Franconia Mountains God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that in New England He makes men.