He fell. It’s been decades, but that’s still the hardest part for people in New England to wrap their heads around. On a foggy May morning in 2003, the most famous face in America—at least the most famous one made of Conway granite—simply slid into the abyss of Franconia Notch.
If you grew up in New Hampshire, the Old Man of the Mountain wasn't just a rock formation. He was the state. He was on the license plates, the road signs, and the back of the state quarter. He was a 40-foot tall profile of a stern, craggy face looking out over the White Mountains. Then, overnight, he was just a pile of scree at the bottom of a cliff.
Honestly, it’s kinda wild how much emotional weight we put on a geological accident. But the Old Man of the Mountain represented something about the "Live Free or Die" spirit that felt permanent. Nature, however, has a funny way of reminding us that "permanent" is a relative term when you're dealing with freeze-thaw cycles and 12,000 years of gravity.
The Day the Face Fell
May 3, 2003. That's the date etched into the memory of every park ranger in the White Mountain National Forest. There was no earthquake. No massive storm. Just a particularly wet spring and the relentless physics of the Northeast.
When the clouds cleared that morning, the profile was gone.
State workers initially thought it was a joke or a mistake in the morning light. It wasn't. The five layers of granite ledges that formed the forehead, nose, lips, and chin had collapsed. David Nielsen, the longtime caretaker of the Old Man—yes, he had a literal caretaker—was devastated. For years, Nielsen and his father before him had climbed Cannon Mountain to fill cracks with epoxy and tighten steel turnbuckles to keep the face from sliding. They knew the Old Man was "walking" forward, moving a fraction of an inch every few years. They just didn't think he’d run.
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Why the Old Man of the Mountain Mattered
It’s easy to look back now and say, "It’s just a rock." But the Old Man of the Mountain was a massive part of the American identity long before New Hampshire was a tourist hub.
- Daniel Webster’s Famous Quote: The legendary statesman once wrote that God hangs out signs in different regions to show what He does there. In New Hampshire, Webster said, God hung a sign to show that He makes men. That quote stuck. It turned a geological feature into a moral compass.
- Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "The Great Stone Face": This short story, published in 1850, turned the formation into a literary icon. It told the tale of a boy who grew up looking at the face, waiting for a great man to appear who resembled it, only to realize that he had become that man through his own character.
- The Geological Freak Show: Formed by the retreating glaciers of the last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago, the profile was a fluke. Five separate ledges of granite had to line up perfectly from one specific angle. If you stood a hundred yards to the left, it just looked like a mess of rocks.
The Desperate Struggle to Save Him
We tried. We really did. Starting in the early 20th century, people realized the Old Man of the Mountain was in trouble. Water would get into the cracks, freeze, expand, and push the rocks apart.
By the 1950s, the state was using massive steel tie-rods to bolt the "forehead" to the main mountain. They used tons of waterproof sealant. They even installed a sophisticated weather station on the brow to monitor vibrations.
But you can't fight geology forever.
The granite was rotten. Geologists call it "exfoliation," where the outer layers of rock peel away like an onion. The Old Man was essentially peeling off the side of Cannon Mountain. The weight of the nose alone was enough to create a pivot point that threatened to tip the whole structure into the valley. In the end, it wasn't a single event that killed him; it was the cumulative weight of 12,000 winters.
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The Grief Was Real
When the news broke, people treated it like a death in the family. They left flowers at the base of the mountain. They left notes. The Governor at the time, Craig Benson, even talked about trying to rebuild it.
There were serious proposals to use fiberglass, or to carve a new face, or to use lasers. Thankfully, those ideas were mostly shot down. There was a realization that if you fake it, you lose the very thing that made it special—the fact that nature created it, and nature took it back.
What People Get Wrong About the Site Now
A lot of tourists still show up at Franconia Notch State Park expecting to see something on the cliff. They’re usually disappointed. If you look up at the "Old Man's" spot today, it's just a blank cliff face.
However, the memorial at the bottom is actually pretty cool. They built these things called "Profilers." They look like weird metal posts. If you stand at the right height and look through them, the metal bars align with the cliff to show you exactly where the face used to be. It’s a clever bit of "augmented reality" without the electronics.
The Ghost of the Notch
Even without the face, Franconia Notch remains one of the most beautiful places in the United States. You have the Flume Gorge right down the road. You have the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway. But there is a distinct "empty nest" feeling when you look up at the mountain.
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It’s a lesson in impermanence. We think of mountains as eternal, but they’re moving and breaking just like everything else—just on a timeline we usually can't see. The Old Man of the Mountain just happened to finish his journey while we were watching.
Moving Forward: How to Experience the Legacy
If you’re planning a trip to see where the Old Man of the Mountain lived, don't just look at the cliff and leave. There's a lot more to the story.
- Visit the Old Man of the Mountain Profile Plaza: This is where those "Profiler" sights are. It’s located on the shores of Profile Lake. It’s the best way to visualize the scale of what fell.
- Hike the Hi-Cannon Trail: If you’re experienced, this hike takes you along the rim. You can look down (carefully) at the site where the ledges used to be. It gives you a terrifying perspective on just how steep that drop is.
- The New Hampshire Historical Society: They have an extensive collection of artifacts, including the original "turnbuckles" and tools used by the Nielsens to try and save the face.
- Respect the "Leave No Trace" Ethics: The area around the lake is sensitive. Because of the "Old Man" fame, it gets heavy foot traffic. Stay on the paved paths in the plaza.
The Old Man of the Mountain is gone, but the spirit of the place hasn't changed. It’s still a rugged, unforgiving, and breathtakingly beautiful part of the world. Just don't expect the rocks to stay put forever.
Nature doesn't owe us a statue.
Actionable Steps for Your Visit
- Check the Weather: Franconia Notch has its own microclimate. It can be 70 degrees in Lincoln and snowing at the Notch.
- Park at the Right Lot: Use the designated parking for Profile Lake/Old Man Memorial off I-93 (the Franconia Notch Parkway). Do not try to park on the shoulder of the highway; the State Police are very strict about this.
- Explore the Flume: Since the face is gone, make the Flume Gorge your primary destination in the park to get your "natural wonder" fix. It’s a 2-mile loop that’s spectacular in the fall.
- Download the Offline Maps: Cell service in the Notch is spotty at best. Don't rely on your GPS to find the trailheads once you're in the shadows of the peaks.