Tiny US state loses landmark as mountaintop crumbles

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) May 03, 2003
The tiny northeastern state of New Hampshire has lost one of its major landmarks, a craggly mountaintop resembling the face of an old man which came crashing down during the night, authorities said Sunday.

"It's all gone" said Bill Roy, a park official at Casnnon Mountain, home of the series of ledges that formed the stone profile known as "The Old Man of the Mountains".

The state park service had struggled to keep the "Old Man's" face intact, filling in gaps that had developed in the stone and using cables to support it.

The US mint used an image of the mountaintop on the reverse side of a 25-cent coin commemmorating the state. The state legislature had adopted the mountaintop as its official symbol.

Plans are already being investigated to restore the attraction that drew hundreds of thousands of tourists annually, state mountain commissioner Rich McCloud said.

SPACE.WIRE