The explorer Verrazano was the first European to view the White Mountains from his ship along the Atlantic coast in 1524, and Darby Field was the first white man to climb Mt. Washington in 1642. Indians called Mt. Washington “Agiochook,” or “Dwelling place of the Great Spirit.” The original Mt. Washington Auto Road opened as a carriage road in 1861 and remains a private road providing public access to Mt. Washington, at 6288 feet the highest peak in the Northeast. In the Alpine Zone at elevations of 4000 feet and above, trees become dwarfed by harsh weather and are called Krummholz, giving way to alpine vegetation like that found in the tundra of Northern Labrador. More than 110 species of alpine plants live in this zone, and the Alpine Zone of the Presidential Range is an island of arctic vegetation in a temperate region.
