MacGougan at Large

Notes on New Hampshire - 2

Negative Space

New Hampshire, more than most places, is home to geographic landmarks that aren’t there. 

The mountains are definitely there, but there are so many of them that it’s hard to keep them straight as landmarks. In New Hampshire, it’s often impractical to refer to an area by the names of the mountains nearby. It’s easier to refer to such an area by the name of where a mountain isn’t. The term for this is a Notch.

Imagine a landscape that is chockablock with mountains, packed together like titanic sardines. It was apparently created during double-coupon week at the mountain store. In the midst of this landscape, there’s a single spot where one more mountain could possibly have been squeezed in, but wasn’t. That spot is a Notch.

On our recent New Hampshire trip, we mostly spent time at Crawford Notch and Pinkham Notch. On past trips, we’ve spent time at Franconia Notch. 

In each case, the Notch itself isn’t so much a landmark as a lack-of-landmark, some negative space in a crowded view.

The most famous New Hampshire landmark that isn’t there is the Old Man of the Mountain. This was a rock formation that - viewed from the correct angle - looked like the profile of a man’s face drawn by a child using an Etch-a-Sketch. Being gigantic crags of granite, the formation graced the side of a mountain for untold millennia until the spring of 2003, when the Old Man had a breakdown. His face fell. In short, he went to pieces.

However, like a burned-in image on an old computer monitor, the Old Man’s likeness lives on.  

Undeterred by the fact that he’s no longer there, the Old Man continues to be the state symbol of New Hampshire. His image appears on all the state’s highway signs. Every year, May 3 is Old Man of the Mountain Day.

The mountain that used to host the Old Man overlooks Franconia Notch. You should go see it. Think of it as two landmarks that aren’t there for the price of one.