This New England

Mt. Monadnock, in southwest New Hampshire, in a Novemberish painting done about 1900 by Williiam Preston Phelps.

The peak is only 3,165 feet high but that's higher than any mountain nearby, and it rises semi-dramatically 2,000 feet from the surrounding plateau.

The name of the mountain, derived from the local Native American language's phrase for something along the lines of "rising alone,'' has been given to isolated peaks all over the world -- one of New Hampshire's gifts to the English language and geology.

Monadnock remains one of the world's most climbed peaks, but then, it is very easy to climb and near big cities. The top is mostly bald rock, probably because of old forest fires.

The Monadnock Region, as the tourist people call it, still has, in places, a Currier & Ives look, though it has become to some extent part of Boston's exurbia.

 Tags  Mt. Monadnock William Preston Phelps

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