Do you know where the White Mountain National Forest first began? I’ll give you a hint… it wasn’t Mount Washington.

According to Realty Specialist Craig Young at White Mountain National Forest, “the first Tract acquired under Weeks Act, according to our Forest land status records it was the E. Bertram Pike Tract, US tract #59, in Benton, NH acquired on January 2, 1914.  This acquired roughly 7,079 acres  for about $14.40 an acre ($2.40 land + $12.00 timber).”  This purchase paved the way for many more acquisitions of land to form the rest of the national forest. Today, the White Mountain National Forest encompasses nearly 800,000 acres in New Hampshire and Maine.