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Mount Lafayette (5,249 Feet)
Reverend Timothy Dwight (1752 - 1817), former president of Yale University, once proposed naming the mountain Wentworth after New Hapmshire's last colonial governor, John Wentworth. Nothing came of Dwight's proposal. The mountain received its present name to honor the 1824 visit to America of the French General and nobleman, the Marquis de LaFayette, who came to the aid of the colonists during the Revolutionary War. In 1826 the following letter signed by "R.S." appeared in the Boston Courier: "On the last anniversary of the Battle of Yorktown, a respectable assemblage of the citizens of Franconia and the neighboring towns, with due formality, dedicated this mountain to the name of the illustrious hero of that day, LaFayette." At one point, a bridle path existed to the summit. Today a trail, the Old Bridle Path, follows the route of the former bridle path to the summit. |
This peak, east of Franconia notch, was originally called Great
Haystack by early settlers because of its shape. It was so named on Carrigan's map
of 1816. The smaller peaks nearby, Liberty and Flume, were simply called the
Haystacks. Today, the name is still carried forward, as the peaks of eastern ridge
of Franconia notch are, from north to south, Lafayette, Lincoln, Little Haystack, Liberty,
and Flume.