Saturday marks the 11th anniversary of the collapse of the Old Man of the Mountain, and those charged with preserving the legacy of this beloved icon of the Granite State expect many people to visit Franconia Notch to remember the Old Man.
“I’ve come here on May 3rd each year since the Old Man fell,” said Dick Hamilton of Littleton, president of the Old Man of the Mountain Legacy Fund. “Like many other people, I dearly miss the Old Man. But this place is still one of the most beautiful places anywhere, and the Profiler Plaza helps people remember the Old Man and his importance to the region and to the people of New Hampshire.”
On the tenth anniversary, about 200 people visited the Old Man of the Mountain Profiler Plaza to mark the day with some visitors leaving flowers near Profile Lake. Others walked to the plaza to read the hundreds of stones there etched with the names and memories of friends of the Old Man and some simply paused to remember where they were on May 3, 2003, when they first heard the news of the Old Man’s collapse.
The Profiler Plaza, funded entirely through private donations, was dedicated in June 2011. Located on the north shore of Profile Lake, once called the Old Man’s Washbowl, the Plaza comprises seven steel “profilers,” which allow visitors to again see the Old Man’s profile on the side of Cannon Mountain, some 1,200 feet above the floor of Franconia Notch. This plaza has been funded in large part through the sale of about 800 engraved paver stones, which may be ordered at www.OldManNH.org. The Legacy Fund has stated it will cap paver stone sales at 1,000.
Also included in the Plaza is one of the giant steel turnbuckles that helped secure the Old Man for decades, as well as the boulder and plaque from 1928 dedicating Franconia Notch to the veterans of New Hampshire.
This summer, the Legacy Fund will install six new interpretive signs along the path and at the plaza. A plaque honoring the many men and women who from 1916 until 2003 dedicated their time and toil to the maintenance and preservation of the Old Man will be mounted on a granite boulder at the start of the path leading to the Plaza.
Visitors are welcome to the Profiler Plaza throughout the year. Two museums, one at the Valley Station of the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway and another at the parking area near the Profiler Plaza, will open for the season Memorial Day weekend.
The Legacy Fund has worked with the state Division of Parks and Recreation to develop and maintain the Profiler Plaza. Upon completion of paver sales, engraving, and other work at the site this, the Legacy Fund plans to turn the plaza officially over to the state Division of Parks and Recreation for perpetuity. For more information, visit www.OldManNH.org.
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