The Life and Art of

 
 

Eagle Cliff, Profile Lake
Samuel L. Gerry (1813–91)
Undated
Oil on canvas (20 x 14 in.)
Private collection

The Old Man of the Mountain was not the only natural feature best viewed from the shores or waters of Profile Lake, and Gerry recorded them all. Eagle Cliff is visible from where Profile Lake forms the headwaters of the Pemigewasset River. This craggy spur, 1,500 feet in height and located on Mount Lafayette, is said to have been named by guidebook author Thomas Starr King in 1858 because a pair of eagles, as perhaps seen here, were nesting there in what he called their “chamber near the sun.”