His face was immortalized in the stone as the stone face, forever waiting and watching. However, the Great Spirit claimed him during the winter, and his people buried him facing towards Minerwa to watch for her return. When Minerwa went back home to visit her dying father, Chief Pemigewassat promised he would stay and wait for her to return. In the tale, Chief Pemigewassat loved a maiden named Minerwa of the Mohawk people, which brought peace between their tribes for a long time. ĭenise Ortakales published a children's book in 2005 called The Legend of the Old Man of the Mountain, which relates the Mohawk legend of the stone face. On his way back down the mountain he looked back and found Nis Kizos had become part of the mountain as a stone face to look after the land.Ī modern addition to the Abenaki legend is that when Stone Face fell in 2003, he finally was re-united with Tarlo. He found no signs of the existence of Nis Kizos and was stricken with sadness. After the winter Gezosa went back up the mountain to bring the news of Tarlo and retrieve Nis Kizos. Tarlo died in her birth village of sickness. He was unsuccessful because Nis Kizo maintained his promise. With winter fast approaching, the elders sent Nis Kizos's brother Gezosa to bring him back. By day he would look out for her, and at night he would light a fire to guide her back. Nis Kizos promised he would live at the top of the mountain. Tarlo had to return to her birth village because its people had been struck by a sickness. Tarlo, a beautiful Iroquois woman, returned with him. Nis Kizos was successful enough to attend Kchi Mahadan, a great gathering of other communities to trade. He became a good leader and provider for his community. The official state history says several groups of surveyors were working in the Franconia Notch area at the time and claimed credit for the discovery.Īccording to Abenaki legend, a human named Nis Kizos was born during an eclipse. Francis Whitcomb and Luke Brooks, part of the surveying team, were the first two to record observing the Old Man. The formation was first noted in the records of a Franconia surveying team around 1805. The Old Man formation was likely formed from freezing and thawing of water in cracks of the granite bedrock sometime after the retreat of glaciers 12,000 years ago. View via one of the "steel profilers" located in Profiler Plazaįranconia Notch is a U-shaped valley in the White Mountains that was shaped by glaciers.
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