The 3,165 foot mountain, the most climbed peak in the world, can be seen from almost anywhere in southwestern New Hampshire, but the most spiritually moving view is the one seen from the Cathedral's sanctuary.
The mountain Ralph Waldo Emerson dubbed "the new Olympus" and Nathaniel Hawthorne described as "a sapphire in the sky" looms large over the landscape.
Along with Emerson and Hawthorne, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Rudyard Kipling, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Willa Cather, are a few of the literary notables who drew inspiration from the mountain’s mystique.
Grand Monadnock, designated a National Natural Landmark in 1987, is located within the town of Jaffrey and surrounded by the 5,000 acre Monadnock State Park. The mountain’s accessibility and miles of hiking trails contribute to its popularity as a tourist destination, and as the most climbed mountain in the world.
For the millions of people who have climbed Grand Monadnock over the years, including Thoreau, Emerson, and their literary kin, and for those who have viewed the peak from the Cathedral of the Pines, the mountain has been and continues to be a source of inspiration and reflection, and a symbol of spiritual and environmental awareness.