A message about the slow but inexorable ways that change occurs is offered by today’s #stampoftheday, a 3-cent stamp. Issued on June 21, 1955, the stamp shows New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain rock formation, which collapsed in 2003d despite decades of efforts to prevent that decline.
The 40-foot-tall “face” in New Hampshire’s White Mountains consisted of five ledges of Conway red granite that probably were sculpted by glacial movements and seasonal freezing about 10,000 years ago. Viewed from certain perspectives, the ledges looked like an old man looking to the east.
White surveyors came on In the formation in the early 1800s. It quickly became a major tourist attraction, in part due to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story, “The Great Stone Face,” which called it “a work of Nature in her mood of majestic playfulness. Daniel Webster, the famed 19th century senator and lawyer also sang its praises, noting: “Men hang out their signs indicative of their respective trades; shoe makers hang out a gigantic shoe; jewelers a monster watch, and the dentist hangs out a gold tooth; but up in the Mountains of New Hampshire, God Almighty has hung out a sign to show that there He makes men.”
By the early 1900s, it was clear that freezing and thawing of ice were causing the formation to deteriorate. By the 1920, these forces plus vibrations from traffic on from nearby traffic caused gaps to appear in the figure’s forehead. (Or maybe it was just worried about the state of the world). Starting in the 1920s state began provided money to install chains to keep the formation intact as well as to fund regular upkeep every summer. In 1945, the Stone Face was made the official state emblem of New Hampshire and in subsequent decades it was featured on the state’s license plate and on state route signs.
Despite the preservation efforts, the formation collapsed on May 3, 2003. People saddened by its demise left flowers and other mementos at its base. Some people unsuccessfully proposed building a plastic replica to replace it. One year after the collapse, coin-operated viewfinders were installed, allowing visitors to see the cliff as it once was.
At one level, this is a story about a piece of rock that fell down. But, in today’s climate, it’s worth asking if it also says something about the slow but inexorable decline of the power of white males, including many who tried to take extraordinary steps to halt or at least slow that change.
Stay safe, be well, fight for justice and work for peace.