Thirteen years ago, New Hampshire lost a big piece of its identity. The Old Man of the Mountain, the great stone face that stoically resisted the tug of gravity for centuries, fell to pieces.
It continues to thrive as a symbol, but it’s just not the same.
We were reminded of the Old Man by news that Swenson Granite of Concord has been sold to a firm in Quebec. As the Monitor’s David Brooks wrote on Saturday, “It was the last quarry in the state still with New Hampshire owners.”
Imagine that: The Granite State no longer cuts its own granite, and the Old Man has abandoned his post. And time, thief that it is, wants to steal more than geological symbols. It’s coming for New Hampshire’s story.
And it’s getting help.
Armed with climate change, time has its sights set on the New Hampshire moose, which researchers fear could be wiped out by mid-century. The maple syrup, skiing and leaf-peeping industries, which rely on New Hampshire’s traditional climate for success, are threatened, too. So is the logging industry, which is engaged in a multi-front battle with invasive species, drought and wildfires, and unpredictable global markets.
What is New Hampshire without syrup and skiers, without red and gold in autumn?
Meanwhile, out-of-state political forces want to make presidential candidates an endangered species here, too.
Every four years, the first-in-the-nation primary comes under threat. Some believe it is unfair that such a small state plays such a big role in deciding who is nominated for president, so they come up with plans to strip New Hampshire of tradition.
Is the primary living on borrowed time? What about the local journalists who cover it?
The closing of the Citizen of Laconia after 90 years highlights the ever-present threat to the newspaper industry. As historians of the moment, the New Hampshire Union Leader, the Keene Sentinel, the Telegraph of Nashua, the Valley News, the Portsmouth Herald, the Monitor and all of the other papers in the state, past and present, have tried to tell the broad, unfolding story of New Hampshire and its people.
If all follow the Citizen into silence, who will be the stewards of those stories?
But time marches on, and some of what makes New Hampshire what it is will be left behind.
There was nothing to be done about the Old Man or the way the granite industry has changed.
It’s clear, though, what human beings can do to confront the effects of climate change. In New Hampshire, those global actions will determine whether the state holds on to its moose and foliage, as well as its ski and timber industries.
As for the fight to preserve the state’s first-in-the-nation primary, we believe it’s in good, capable hands (that could always use some reinforcements) – and we thank those in the trenches for their efforts.
The future is unclear for reporters, photographers and editors throughout the state, but we are certain they will adapt to changes and keep sharing stories.
Meanwhile, all of the people who live and work here can help build on the state’s identity in a positive way. Let this be a state that loves cutting-edge businesses as it loves old barns, that looks upon all of its new faces the way it once looked upon the profile of the Old Man. Let this be a state that derives its strength as much from its human resources as its natural resources.
More than anything, let this be a state that honors its past and protects its present, but does neither at the expense of its future.