Bramhall Hill is a hill in the west and southwest of the downtown peninsula of Portland, Maine . At its summit, the hill stands 171 feet (52 m) feet above sea level, with a sharp drop below. The area includes the West End neighborhood, the Western Promenade and part of the Old Port downtown district.
26-527: Bramhall Hill commands an extensive view west and north-west of the bay, the mainland and the White Mountains , around 80 miles (130 kilometres) away. The finest residence district is on Bramhall Hill. The area was originally the property of George Bramhall, who built the Bramhall mansion . George Bramhall moved to Portland in 1680 and bought a plot of 400 acres (160 ha) of land from George Cleeves. Bramhall
52-528: A "school", since they did not all paint in the same style as, for example, those artists of the Hudson River School . Nathaniel Hawthorne chose the White Mountains as the setting for his short story " The Great Carbuncle ". Other White Mountain tales by Hawthorne include " The Ambitious Guest ", "Sketches from Memory" and "The Great Stone Face". The White Mountain region also figures prominently in
78-467: A natural feature dubbed "The Basin", consisting of a granite bowl, 20 feet (6 m) in diameter, fed by a waterfall, worn smooth by the Pemigewasset River . The areas around The Basin are popular spots for swimming in the cold water. The range is crossed north–south by U.S. Route 3 and Interstate 93 through Franconia Notch and New Hampshire Route 16 through Pinkham Notch , and east–west by
104-428: A retail price of one dollar. Other early maps of the region were drawn by H. Conant and by Harvard astronomer George Phillips Bond , who published the first topographical map of the region in 1853. The White Mountains drew hundreds of painters during the 19th century. This group of artists is sometimes referred to as belonging to the "White Mountain school" of art. Others dispute the notion that these painters were
130-625: A rock unit of the White Mountains, found in central New Hampshire, is of interest to researchers due to the fact that it contains feldspathoids as well as quartz-bearing rocks. The White Mountain National Forest , formed in 1911 after passage of the Weeks Act , includes most of the mountain range and now covers 800,000 acres (3,200 km ) in New Hampshire and western Maine. The Mount Washington Auto Road and Mount Washington Cog Railway ascend
156-466: Is that the mica -laden granite of the summits looked white to observers. The White Mountains are a physiographic section of the larger New England province , which in turn is part of the larger Appalachian Highlands physiographic division. The magma intrusions forming the White Mountains today were created 124 to 100 million years ago as the North American Plate moved westward over
182-535: The African Plate from the early Cretaceous period to the present using the fixed hotspot reference frame. The geologic history of the New England hotspot is the subject of much debate among geoscientists. The conventional opinion is that volcanic activity associated with the hotspot results from movement of the North American Plate over a fixed mantle plume . During the first major episodes of volcanic activity,
208-488: The Kancamagus Highway (part of New Hampshire Route 112 ) through Kancamagus Pass and U.S. Route 302 through Crawford Notch . Many of these highways are designated as scenic routes . Several amusement parks lie in or near the White Mountains, including Story Land , Santa's Village , Whale's Tale Water Park and Clark's Trading Post . The White Mountains region is also home to numerous hiking attractions through
234-635: The New England and Corner Rise seamounts off the coast of North America, and the Seewarte Seamounts east of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge on the African Plate , the latter of which include its most recent eruptive center, the Great Meteor Seamount . The New England, Great Meteor, or Monteregian hotspot track has been used to estimate the movement of the North American Plate away from
260-501: The New England hotspot . Widespread evidence of glaciation may be seen in the U-shaped form of various notches, or mountain passes . Glacial cirques form the heads of Tuckerman Ravine on Mt. Washington and King Ravine on Mt. Adams . Glacial striations are visible at numerous locations, including on the exposed rocks at the summit of Pine Mountain in Gorham . The Red Hill Syenite ,
286-515: The border between it and Maine. In all, there are 48 peaks within New Hampshire as well as one ( Old Speck Mountain ) in Maine over 4,000 feet (1,200 m), known as the four-thousand footers . The Whites are known for a system of alpine huts for hikers operated by the Appalachian Mountain Club . The Appalachian Trail crosses the area from southwest to northeast. It is not clear where
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#1733093931970312-478: The first two tourist maps of the mountains was that produced by Franklin Leavitt, a self-taught artist born near Lancaster, New Hampshire in 1824. Leavitt's hand-drawn map, today in the collection of Harvard University , is largely folk art , but does convey some of the region's features. Leavitt drew several versions of his map, beginning in 1852. The fourth version, printed in 1871, was printed at Boston and carried
338-527: The higher peaks contain an Alpine tundra . The range is heavily visited due to its proximity to Boston , New York City , and Montreal . Most of the area is public land, including the White Mountain National Forest and a number of state parks . Its most famous mountain is 6,288-foot (1,917 m) Mount Washington , which is the highest peak in the Northeastern U.S. and for 76 years held
364-521: The like. The Mount Washington Hotel located in Bretton Woods was the site of the Bretton Woods Conference following World War II , and today remains one of the few early twentieth century grand hotels still in use. An estimated six million visitors visit the region yearly. Some of the earliest maps of the White Mountains were produced as tourist maps and not topographical maps. One of
390-527: The name "White Mountains" came from. There is no record of what Native Americans called the range, although pre-Colonial names for many individual peaks are known. The name and similar ones such as "White Hills" or "Wine Hills" are found in literature from Colonial times. According to tradition, the mountains were first sighted from shipboard off the coast near the Piscataqua estuary . The highest peaks would often be snow-capped, appearing white. An alternate theory
416-463: The northwest of Hudson Bay dated between 214-192 Ma which may represent an older, continental extension of the hotspot track. Some evidence, such the lack of an initial flood basalt and age progression along the New England-Quebec volcanic province, is not what is expected for a plume origin, and the case has been made that a shallow, tectonic mechanism is more plausible. In this view,
442-646: The plume created the igneous intrusions of the Monteregian Hills in southern Quebec and the younger set of intrusions of the White Mountains in New Hampshire around 124-100 Ma. As the plate moved further west, the plume moved offshore, forming the New England Seamounts between 103 and 83 Ma. After the formation of the Nashville Seamount around 83 Ma, there was a pause in volcanic activity and
468-551: The range's highest peak, which hosts a visitor center and weather observatory . Heavily visited Arethusa Falls , the second tallest waterfall in New Hampshire, lies on a southwest flank of Crawford Notch. The Old Man of the Mountain , a rock formation on Cannon Mountain that resembled the craggy profile of a man's face, was a White Mountain landmark until it fell in May 2003. It remains the state symbol of New Hampshire. The range also includes
494-585: The record for fastest surface wind gust in the world (231 miles per hour (372 km/h) in 1934). Mount Washington is part of a line of summits, the Presidential Range , that are named after U.S. presidents and other prominent Americans. The White Mountains also include the Franconia Range , Sandwich Range , Carter-Moriah Range and Kinsman Range in New Hampshire, and the Mahoosuc Range straddling
520-587: The two spikes in activity that formed the New England-Quebec volcanic province and New England Seamounts are due to passive, shallow melting associated with lithospheric extension resulting from tectonic changes in the Atlantic Ocean which reactivated pre-existing zones of structural weakness related to the earlier opening of the Iapetus Ocean . The more recent seamounts are thought to mark discrete episodes of volcanic activity along different lines or segments of
546-766: The upper mantle as expected for a plume), and helium isotope ratios in groundwater in the Monteregian Hills which indicate a deep mantle source. The lack of an obvious hotspot track west of Montreal has previously been ascribed to failure of the plume to penetrate the Canadian Shield , a lack of recognizable intrusions due to erosion, or strengthening of the plume when it approached the Monteregian Hills, but more recent research has found kimberlite fields in Ontario and New York dated between 180 and 134 Ma and at Rankin Inlet to
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#1733093931970572-716: The various river gorges, ravines, and caves in the area. The Flume Gorge , Lost River Reservation and Polar Caves Park all provide moderate hikes that one can complete in a few hours. Skiing is a popular attraction in the area. Cannon Mountain Ski Area , Loon Mountain Ski Resort , Attitash Mountain Resort , Wildcat Mountain Ski Area , Bretton Woods Mountain Resort , and Waterville Valley Resort are all popular winter ski resorts, and many of them provide year-round outdoor activities such as bridle paths , hiking trails, alpine slides , and
598-669: The volcanic center shifted north, creating the Corner Rise Seamounts around 80-76 Ma. The Mid-Atlantic Ridge passed over the plume around 76 Ma and renewed volcanic activity produced the Seewarte Seamounts on the African Plate between 26 and 10 Ma. Evidence for a plume origin includes the above age progression, seismic anomalies in the lower mantle under the Great Meteor Seamount (though these do not extend into
624-712: The writings of Louisa May Alcott , including the novel Eight Cousins and its sequel, Rose in Bloom . New England hotspot The New England hotspot , also referred to as the Great Meteor hotspot and sometimes the Monteregian hotspot , is a volcanic hotspot in the North Atlantic Ocean . It created the Monteregian Hills intrusions in Montreal and Montérégie , the White Mountains intrusions in New Hampshire ,
650-507: Was convicted of piracy and murder. After a prompt refusal for pardon by President George Washington , Bird was executed. White Mountains (New Hampshire) The White Mountains are a mountain range covering about a quarter of the state of New Hampshire and a small portion of western Maine in the United States . They are a subrange of the northern Appalachian Mountains and the most rugged mountains in New England . Several of
676-625: Was killed during the French and Indian Wars in the late 17th century. He was a tanner by profession and set up a tannery in the area. In 1870, a 20-inch main brought water from Sebago Lake to a 12-million-US-gallon (45,000 m) reservoir on Bramhall Hill. This supplied most of the city's drinking water. The first capital conviction in the United States Courts after the adoption of the Constitution occurred on Bramhall Hill in 1790. Thomas Bird
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