Presidential Range

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This article concerns the best-known Presidential Range; for the range of the same name in the Green Mountains of Vermont, see Presidential Range.

The Presidential Range of mountains is located in the White Mountains of the state of New Hampshire, almost entirely in Coos County. The most notable summits of the range are named for prominent Americans, either public figures of the 18th and 19th centuries or Presidents.

Notable Summits

Northern Presidential Range in winter, summits labeled

View of the Presidentail Range from Mount Lafayette, July 2004.

These summits include, in sequence from southwest to northeast:

Mt. Webster - after Daniel Webster
Mt. Jackson* - after Dr. Charles T. Jackson (19th c. geologist)
Mt. Pierce* - after Franklin Pierce (formerly Mt. Clinton - after DeWitt Clinton)
Mt. Eisenhower* - after Dwight Eisenhower
Mt. Franklin - after Benjamin Franklin
Mt. Monroe* - after James Monroe
Mt. Washington* - after George Washington (A general at time of naming, and only later a president)
Mt. Clay - after Henry Clay (State changed name to Mt. Reagan after Ronald Reagan, US Government still recognizes Clay name)
Mt. Jefferson* - after Thomas Jefferson
Mt. Sam Adams - after Samuel Adams
Mt. Adams* - after John Adams
Mt. Quincy Adams - after John Quincy Adams
Mt. Madison* - after James Madison

Mt. Adams has, besides its main summit, four subsidiary peaks that are also commonly recognized by name; two, Sam Adams and John Quincy Adams, are listed above. The third and fourth are:

Adams 4 ("Mt. Abigail Adams" has been proposed)
Adams 5

The summits marked with an asterisk (*) are included on the peak-bagging list of 4,000-foot and higher mountains in New Hampshire; the others are excluded, in some cases because of lesser height and in others because of more technical criteria.

Other Summits in the Range

Aside from the notable summits, the geological Presidential Range contains a number of additional named peaks.

Boott Spur (5,500 ft) (named after a botanist and physician, Dr. Francis Boott)
Engine Hill
Iron Mountain
Maple Mountain
Mt. Bowman (3,449 ft)
Mt. Crawford
Mt. Hope
Mt. Langdon
Mt. Parker
Mt. Pickering (1,945) (family name of first president of Appalachian Mountain Club)
Mt. Resolution (3,415)
Mt. Stanton
Nelson Crag
Slide Peak
Stairs Mountain (3,463)

Several peaks drained on their west faces by the Dry River are less accessible than the main and most visited ridge of the range; when enumerated, they are usually grouped with the Presidentials, but they are likely to be neglected, or mentioned as an afterthought, in discussing the range as whole. They include:

Mt. Isolation*
Mt. Davis

Watersheds

The Presidentials separate drainage via the Saco and Androscoggin Rivers into the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Maine, from drainage into the Israel and Ammonoosuc Rivers, thence into the Connecticut River, and thence into Long Island Sound.

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