G - GRANITE STATE

       Today's A to Z Blog letter is the letter "G." My word for the day is the "Granite State."

I live in the state of New Hampshire which is also known as the Granite State. It's called the Granite State because we have a lot of granite everywhere. Our state symbol is the Old Man of the Mountain. The Old Man is a rock formation that when viewed from the right vantage point looks like the profile of a man's face.  The Old Man of the Mountain was located on the north face of Cannon Mountain in the White Mountains in Franconia Notch. In 2003 the rock formation that formed the Old Man collapsed from years of freezing and thawing water and frost which formed cracks that eventually led to the demise of our beloved Old Man.

Our state motto is "Live Free or Die." These words were sent as part of a toast to a reunion of soldiers who participated in the Battle of Bennington which took place during the American Revolutionary War. These words were written by the hero of the Battle of Bennington, General John Stark who was too ill to attend the reunion so he sent along this toast with his regards. The full quote is "Live Free of Die, Death is not the Worse of Evils."
This motto speaks of a mindset that we have a God given right to live free and we shall live free at ALL costs. You gotta love General Stark's attitude which is still alive and well in the Granite State.

Another interesting fact of our beloved Granite State is that we are a state that has written in the state constitution a right to revolt. That's right, we Granite Staters have a constitutional right to revolt against our state government. If the state government becomes oppressive and violative of it's citizens God given rights AND the peaceful mechanisms to effect change and rein in the state's power no longer work, we have a right, nay a duty, to cast off the shackles of oppression and restore a government that secures our God given rights and not infringes upon them. Ya gotta love that too!

I am so proud to be a Granite Stater. God bless New Hampshire!