Mystery Mountain

This one is a name, not a picture: What 4000' peak in New England was once known as Potato Hill?

Why/when was it changed to its present name?

See if you can get it without Googling it.

I read this somewhere once...I think in college (which was just a few months ago for me ). It's in Vermont I think, so it might be Mt Abraham, cause i don't remember Killington or Mansfield or Camels Hump being mentioned. So Abraham is my guess. Do I get an "A" if its right??

grouseking

grouseking said:

I read this somewhere once...I think in college (which was just a few months ago for me ). It's in Vermont I think, so it might be Mt Abraham, cause i don't remember Killington or Mansfield or Camels Hump being mentioned. So Abraham is my guess. Do I get an "A" if its right??

grouseking

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Good guess, Abraham it is. But what about part 2 of the question? Anyone?

We don't give out letter grades here, you get to climb the mountain instead.

Well, I cannot answer that second part without looking it up, unless they used to grow lots of potatoes in the valley, but I have no idea why they would change the name to Abraham. Biblicical?? Lincoln? Don't know...

P.S. I can't wait to climb it!

The USGS benchmark on the summit of Mt. Abe still says "Potato Hill" I guess that if you can find the date of the placement of the benchmark, you can learn something about the timing of the name change. As for the Abe Lincoln connection to the summit ridge between Lincoln gap and Appalachian gap, the followin sheds some light on it:
From http://www.virtualvermont.com/towns/warren.html

Lincoln Mountain is made up of five peaks, all at more than 3,800 feet: Lincoln Peak, Cutts Peak, Mount Ellen, Mount Abraham, Nancy Hanks Peak. Seeing the name Lincoln Mountain and then Mount Abraham and Nancy Hanks Peak, strangers assume with considerable justice that these names were given to honor President Abraham Lincoln and his mother. Not so: the mountain received its name from the fact that this section of Warren was once part of Lincoln town in Addison County to the west (chartered in 1780). It was only later that the Abraham and Nancy Hanks elevations were named as a play on the Lincoln name and its associations.

Mt Abe is a great half-day hike to an above tree-line summit, and highly recommended. It was my oldest daugther's first real mountain (she climbed it with me when she was six), and given its proximity to my home, I've climbed it more than any other peak (probably a dozen times or so), including last Saturday.

professor said:

The USGS benchmark on the summit of Mt. Abe still says "Potato Hill" I guess that if you can find the date of the placement of the benchmark, you can learn something about the timing of the name change. ....

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Actually the USGS benchmark was placed in 1978 to replace an iron bolt originally placed in 1875. The report from 1978 reads in part:

STATION RECOVERY (1978)

RECOVERY NOTE BY NATIONAL GEODETIC SURVEY 1978 (CLN)
THE AZIMUTH MARK AND REFERENCE MARKS 1 AND 2 WERE RECOVERED IN GOOD
CONDITION. THE IRON BOLT MARKING THE STATION HAD BEEN BENT OVER.
UPON TRYING TO STRAIGHTEN THE BOLT IT BROKE OFF FLUSH WITH THE
GROUND. THE CENTER OF THE BOLT WAS PLUMBED AND A STATION MARK
DISK WAS SET AT THIS TIME. THE DISTANCE TO THE REFERENCE MARKS
CHECKED. THE DIRECTION TO REFERENCE MARK 2 CHECKED.

...

THE STATION MARK IS A STANDARD DISK STAMPED POTATO HILL 1875 1978,
CEMENTED IN A DRILL HOLE IN OUTCROPPING BEDROCK THAT IS FLUSH WITH
THE GROUND SURFACE. IT IS ON THE HIGHEST POINT OF HILL.

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So the name "Potato Hill" was stamped on the disk to preserve the original name in the USGS files.

Here's a link to the complete station data: Benchmark data

Seeing the name Lincoln Mountain and then Mount Abraham and Nancy Hanks Peak, strangers assume with considerable justice that these names were given to honor President Abraham Lincoln and his mother. Not so: the mountain received its name from the fact that this section of Warren was once part of Lincoln town in Addison County to the west (chartered in 1780). It was only later that the Abraham and Nancy Hanks elevations were named as a play on the Lincoln name and its associations.

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Although it's true the mountain was named after the town (Lincoln) which predates the president, the peak names wre indeed named after the president and his family, although as you say, it was intended as a play on words. Here's a quote from a report made in 1887 by the Coast and Geodetic Survey team:

POTATO HILL IS SOMETIMES CALLED MOUNT ABRAHAM LINCOLN BUT
IT IS BETTER KNOWN BY THE FORMER NAME. THE OLD CUTTS ROAD
TO THE TOP IS WELL KNOWN.

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Thanks for the information Professor. I love this stuff.