White+Mountains,+New+Hampshire

White Mountains, New Hampshire

Section 3 – The Mountains of the Northeast
Welcome to Mount Washington in New Hampshire. At 6,288 feet tall, Mount Washington is the highest **[|peak]** **[** **peak:** **the top of a mountain]** in the Northeast. On a clear day, visitors can see for a hundred miles from its top.

Mount Washington has some of the world’s most severe weather. It can snow here all year long. The peak is also one of the windiest places on Earth.

My family visited Mount Washington when I was your age. We rode the Mount Washington Cog Railway to the top. This train is the second-steepest mountain-climbing train in the world. The wind speed that day was 75 miles per hour. My mother still believes that if she hadn’t held on to me, I would have blown out to sea. The highest wind speed ever recorded here was 231 miles per hour. That was in 1934.

Mount Washington sits in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The White Mountains are part of the Appalachian mountain range. The Appalachians are one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world. Many hikers climb Mount Washington each year.


 * The Indians and Their Forebears: White Mountains of New Hampshire **

The White Mountains were first inhabited by humans about 10,000 BC, after the melting of the continental ice sheet. These first inhabitants had migrated from the western half of the continent. These Indians were hunters, fishers, and gatherers. They discovered a region that was rich with wildlife, fish, and edible plants.

Tribes began to form about 3000-4000 BC. Their most important challenge in surviving was storing adequate food for the relatively long winters.

The Indians in this region were called the Penacooks, one of two tribal branches within the regional Abenaki nation. In the early 1600s the Penacook confederation had 17 tribes, all of whom spoke the Algonquin language. This language had no written letters or words. There is no written history by these peoples, obviously, except for pictographs. The population of this confederation was about 12,000 at the time of European colonization. The tribes llived in 30 villages along rivers and the seacoast.

Tribal life in the Penacooks centered around closely knit clans. During the summer months, several families of fifty or more in number congregated into a single, rectangular row house made of bark. Each family had its own fire. Women cared for young children, and tended to plots of squash, corn, and beans. Men fished and gathered edible plants and plant by-products such as berries and maple syrup, and probably taught hunting, fishing and gathering techniques to adolescent boys. During hunting seasons, the families split up and each lived in a portable wigwam, which resembled the modern dome tent in shape and size. Canoes were used for transport on rivers and lakes. Abundant animal hides were used for clothing.

Marriages were arranged by the mothers, who carefully observed the interactions of prospective brides and grooms. Tribal leaders considered the mothers to be equally at fault as the couple if the marriage failed.

Overall the Penacooks were a spiritual and generally peaceful people. The Penacooks called Mt. Washington "Agiochook," which meant, “place of the Great Spirit.” Agiochook was not climbed by the Penacooks, for fear of death, but some tribal chiefs did venture there.

Mt. Washington Observatory

media type="youtube" key="im2t_6qpf9c" height="390" width="480"

media type="youtube" key="dmGF2B51wEo?fs=1" height="385" width="480"