By Wayne Johnson @ Shutterstock.com
It has been 15 years since the rock formation known as the Old Man of the Mountain fell apart in New Hampshire. Felice Belman of the Boston Globe explains why that was such a loss for the people of the Granite State.
It was 15 years ago — May 3, 2003 — that the Old Man of the Mountain, the state’s iconic symbol, lost its 10,000-year battle with gravity and slipped from its spot atop Franconia Notch.
If you weren’t there, it’s hard to appreciate just how bonkers the state’s reaction actually was. People responded as if some sort of deity — the Great Stone Face — or a cherished relative or the state’s very identity had crumbled to the ground. In many respects, it had.
The Old Man was a marvel: five hunks of granite 40 feet high and estimated to weigh 7,200 tons. Stand in just the right spot down below, and you really could see the profile of an old man. Stand in just the wrong spot, and — nothing.
This winter, my son Owen and I spent time nearby Franconia Notch. I wrote about our time in Northern New Hampshire here.
Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com.
