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Most of the area is public land, including the White Mountain National Forest as well as a number of state parks. Its most famous peak is Mount Washington, which at 6,288 feet (1916 m) is the highest mountain in the Northeastern U.S. and home to the fastest winds (231 mph or 372 km/h, over 100 m/s, in 1934) measured on the surface of the earth. Mount Washington is one of a line of summits called the Presidential Range, many of which are named after U.S. presidents and other prominent Americans.
The White Mountains included the Old Man of the Mountain, a rock formation on Cannon Mountain that resembled the craggy profile of a man until it fell in May 2003. It remains the state symbol of New Hampshire. The range also includes a natural feature dubbed "The Basin." The Basin area consists of a granite bowl, twenty feet in diameter, fed by a waterfall, worn smooth by the Pemigewasset River. The areas around "The Basin" are also popular spots for swimming in the ice cold mountain fed water.
As the most ruggedly picturesque area in the northeast U.S., 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 a "school", since they did not all paint in the same style as, for example, those artists of the Hudson River school.
