S1E1: Here He Made Man
The Old Man of the Mountain
Profile Plaza, Franconia Notch NH
(Photo Credit: A. Jennison)
The Old Man of the Mountain: New Hampshire’s Obsession with a Pile of Fallen Granite
If you grew up anywhere near the Granite State, you’ve spent an absurd amount of time listening to people mourn a rock.
Not just any rock, mind you—the Old Man of the Mountain, a 40-foot-tall profile of a stern-faced guy carved into the side of Cannon Mountain. For generations, New Hampshire treated this geological accident like a holy deity.
On this episode of the WTFNH podcast, host Amanda Jennison and her husband Chris dive deep into the weird, surprisingly dramatic, and thoroughly ridiculous history of Franconia Notch’s most famous missing resident.
Grab a coffee—cream and sugar, Beastie Boys style—and let’s break down the bizarre lifecycle of New Hampshire's favorite chunk of granite.
1. Blame Wisconsin (No, Seriously)
Before white dudes showed up and tried to take credit for "discovering" a mountain face, mother nature was doing some aggressive terraforming.
Between 12,000 and 18,000 years ago—during the Wisconsin glaciation period (yes, named after the state)—glaciers engulfed the region. As the ice melted, post-glacial erosion left behind five granite cliff ledges sitting 1,200 feet above Profile Lake.
From one very specific, optical-illusion angle, those five ledges looked like a grumpy old guy staring out over the trees. From literally any other angle, it just looked like...rocks.
2. Indigenous Legend vs. White Guys with Maps
Long before European settlers rolled through, the Abenaki people knew all about the formation. They called it the Great Stone Face (or simply The Profile).
According to Abenaki legend, adapted in the episode from the version shared by the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective on their blog, the face belonged to Nis Kizos ("Two Moons"), a man born during an eclipse who waited high up on the mountain for his missing wife, Tarlo, to return from a hunting camp. When he died, he was turned to stone, forever watching over N'dakinna (their traditional land).
Fast forward to 1805. Two white surveyors, Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks, were mapping out the notch road. Brooks looked into Profile Lake, saw the reflection of the rock, and suddenly everyone in the surveying party started fist-fighting over who "discovered" it first. Classic.
3. The Ego of Daniel Webster
Once the word was out, 19th-century tourists went nuts for the Old Man. Politicians and writers lined up to write over-the-top prose about a cliffside.
Famous statesman and full-time Muppet lookalike Daniel Webster famously quipped:
"Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades... But up in the mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men."
For your consideration
Imagine living in a state where the official slogan almost became “There He Makes Men” instead of “Live Free or Die.” (Though, honestly, a simple picture of a middle finger pointed directly at Massachusetts with an unbuckled seatbelt might be more accurate today).
Over the years, heavyweights like Nathaniel Hawthorne (who wrote a short story about it), Ulysses S. Grant, and Dwight D. Eisenhower made the pilgrimage to stare up at the profile. Meanwhile, Ansel Adams ghosted the state entirely because our "mountains" weren't big enough for his camera lens.
4. The World’s Worst Botched Plastic Surgery
Here’s the thing about building a collective personality around five loose granite ledges held together by freeze-thaw cycles: physics eventually wins.
By the early 1900s, the Old Man was quite literally falling apart. The state's solution was both simple and stupid. Strap the guy's forehead together with literal chains in the 1920s.
In 1957, with chains failing, New Hampshire threw $25,000 (roughly a quarter-million bucks in today’s money) at the problem. They slapped on:
Steel tie rods
Plastic coverings
Rain gutters
20 tons of fast-drying cement
It was the geological equivalent of that ruined Ecce Homo fresco restoration in Spain, but with quick-crete.
It’s the same picture
5. May 3, 2003: The Gravity Tax Comes Due
Despite the chains, the rods, and the bucket loads of cement, the Old Man gave up the ghost. On May 3, 2003, the entire face collapsed into a pile of rubble at the base of Cannon Mountain.
The state went into full mourning. People treated it like an apocalypse omen. State officials even formed a task force to debate building a fake fiberglass replica (thankfully rejected).
And because local politicians have zero chill, State Representative Tim Cahill actually compared the rockfall’s emotional impact to 9/11 on the record. Yes, really. You can practically hear the collective groans echoing through the State House to this day.
Why, Tim. Just… why.
How to Visit the "Old Man" Today
If you’re taking a road trip up I-93 through Franconia Notch, you can still honor the old guy.
In 2020, the state completed the Old Man of the Mountain Profiler Plaza. It features clever steel profilers mounted on the ground. You stand on the footprint marker corresponding to your height, look through the sightline, and the steel frame aligns with the cliffside to show you exactly where the face used to sit.
It’s low-tech, surprisingly moving, and way better than a giant plastic replica.
Plus, May 3rd is now officially Old Man of the Mountain Day in New Hampshire. Celebrate properly: go outside, stare at a cool rock, and claim you discovered it.
Want more weird Granite State history, local legends, and snarky commentary? Check out the full episode of WTFNH below, and don't forget to subscribe wherever you grab your podcasts!
