9 replies to this topic

[Carter711]

Old Man memorial unveiled

By PAULA TRACY
Union Leader Staff

Concord – Motorists traveling south in Franconia Notch may soon be able to glance for a passing moment toward Profile Lake to see five giant granite monoliths, one as high as 20 feet tall, which will appear as the profile of the Old Man of the Mountain.

The memorial design to honor the state's fallen symbol will be half the size of the natural Old Man and will include the heaviest gray granite stone ever quarried in North America.

Full Story
http://www.unionlead...c4-bda9f4b26a07

Edited by Carter711, 08 February 2007 - 08:59 AM.

[Cotuit]

This is wonderful, I can't wait to see it completed.

[cloudship]

So much for the "let's not make a fake replacement" idea. While I support making some kind of monument or something to mark it, this is just a disguised attempt at making a fake replacement. I think they would be better off doing something different.

[Cotuit]

It's not a replacement, they aren't putting this on the mountain, they're putting on the lakeshore.

[cloudship]

I know. But it still seems to me that they are simply trying to get another replica of a face for people to come up and look at. I wouldn't mind the idea if it was someplace else, even. But somehow this puts the emphasis on the face instead of on the wonder of nature creating something so magnificent. Maybe it's just me, but it seems so touristy to me.

[Cotuit]

cloudship, on Feb 9 2007, 06:39 PM, said:

Maybe it's just me, but it seems so touristy to me.

That's the whole point of Franconia Notch.

[cloudship]

Franconia Notch? I could see North Conway, but Franconia is more about hiking and outdoors and such. You have the Basin area, the Flume, Lafayette trail, the Flume (OK, that may be a bit touristy), all the trails around Cannon and Boyce Rock. That whole section is within the State Park's boundary.

[M. Brown]

I'm definitely going to go see it when its built.

[FjmArch]

cloudship, on Feb 8 2007, 10:32 PM, said:

So much for the "let's not make a fake replacement" idea. While I support making some kind of monument or something to mark it, this is just a disguised attempt at making a fake replacement. I think they would be better off doing something different.

Having just travelled up to Franconia (for hiking and camping), I don't find an issue with the monument. You really won't see much of it unless you pull into the parking area which is already a highly tourist area with cannon Mountain (tram), the beach @ echo lake.......

Given the fact that the old man was held up by glue and cables for the past 50+ years it was a fake for the last half century already why not replace it on the ground.


By the way the basin / cascade trail is highly underrated. A great family hike.

[The Voice of Reason]

FjmArch, on Jul 6 2008, 03:52 AM, said:

Having just travelled up to Franconia (for hiking and camping), I don't find an issue with the monument. You really won't see much of it unless you pull into the parking area which is already a highly tourist area with cannon Mountain (tram), the beach @ echo lake.......

Given the fact that the old man was held up by glue and cables for the past 50+ years it was a fake for the last half century already why not replace it on the ground.


By the way the basin / cascade trail is highly underrated. A great family hike.

This is a fine "replacement"  some may be slightly offended, but because it is not on the mountain like the old stone and duct tape version it keeps the location intact and the importance just as high.  I wonder why they are not pushing the other big face on the tourists.

I was just up there on Sunday, and for my time, the zip line tours at Loon were reason enough to visit the area.  while hiking up to loneley lake was as good of an outdoor experince as any face on a mountain.  I did feel bad for a state loosing its national symbol/identity, and several times meant to ask how it has affected tourism and morale etc, but I was so busy I never got around to it.  With Oktoberfeast at Loon Mtn, a craft fair in Lincoln, plenty of decent resturants, and hikes galore I hardly had time.  did I mention the Leafs?

seriously, this is a great area for all of its purposes.  foo foo Leaf peeper tourists, Ski bunnies, and hard core nature lovers all have a reason to visit, and something to gain for doing so.  This monument is something that makes the huge parking lots at the tram seem like they have a purpose.  the notch is a little anti climatic without the face.  so a monument will be a nice start, add the museum and the ski museum and it all works out.

besides the Indian head rock is always there for you if you need a stone face.