Mount Kineo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mt. Kineo, situated beside Moosehead Lake in Maine, is in the heart of a vast primeval wilderness stretching to Canada. Kineo is a peninsula, comprising 1150 acres (4.7 km²), which extends from the easterly shore into the lake. Mt. Kineo, with 700 foot (213 meter) cliffs rising straight up from the water, is a dramatic setting that has attracted visitors for centuries.
Native Americans once travelled great distances to Mt. Kineo to acquire its rhyolite rock. The mountain is a peculiar geological formation of flint known as siliceous slate, or "hornstone." It is the country's largest known mass of this rock, once used by Indians to craft arrowheads, hatchets, chisels, etc. Because Indian implements made from the stone have been found in all parts of New England and even further south, it is evident that various tribes visited Mt. Kineo for centuries to obtain this material.
In 1846, Henry D. Thoreau visited the Moosehead Lake region, and the mountain's geological formation, Indian relics and traditions deeply interested him. In 1884, the Mount Kineo House was built on the shores of Moosehead Lake. Following the purchase of the hotel by the Maine Central Railroad in 1911, the Hiram Ricker Hotel Company was engaged to operate it. Mt. Kineo Golf Course, built in the 1880s, is believed to be the second oldest in New England.
