It is the highest peak in the Northeastern United States at 6,288.2 ft (1,916.6 m) and the most topographically prominent mountain east of the Mississippi River.

[8][9] The Abenaki people inhabiting the region at the time of European contact believed that the tops of mountains were the dwelling place of the gods and did not climb them out of religious deference to their sanctity.

[12] Field climbed the mountain in June of that year to demonstrate to the Abenaki chief Passaconaway that the Europeans bargaining for tribal land were not subject to the gods believed to inhabit the summit, a primarily political move that facilitated colonists' northern expansion.

[10] Field again summited Agiocochook in October 1642 on an early surveying expedition that created maps of land as far as Maine, which allowed people from the Massachusetts colony to identify arable coastal areas.

[16] On August 31, 1821, Eliza, Harriet, and Abigail Austin, three sisters from Jefferson, New Hampshire, became the first White women to set foot atop Mount Washington.

[14] Little occurred on the summit itself until the mid-19th century, when it was developed into one of the first tourist destinations in the nation, with construction of more bridle paths and two hotels.

[17] For forty years, until 1917, an intermittent daily newspaper, called Among the Clouds, was published by Henry M. Burt at the summit each summer.

This is partly due to the convergence of several storm tracks, mainly from the Atlantic to the south, the Gulf region and the Pacific Northwest.

Low-pressure areas are more favorable to develop along the coastline in the winter due to the relative temperature differences between the northeastern United States and the Atlantic Ocean.

These extreme winds also contribute to the mountain's very short treeline, with elevations as low as 4,400 feet (1,300 m) being too hostile to support any plant life more than a few inches (centimeters) in height.

The extreme environment creates strong winds and ice at the top of Mount Washington making the use of unmanned equipment problematic.

[36] In 1932, the Mount Washington Observatory was built on the summit through a group interested in and noting the worth of a research facility at that demanding location.

Where most unstaffed weather stations have undergone technology upgrades, consistent use of the sling psychrometer has helped provide scientific precision to the Mount Washington climate record.

On the north side, Great Gulf—the mountain's largest glacial cirque—forms an amphitheater surrounded by the Northern Presidentials: Mounts Clay, Jefferson, Adams and Madison.

It is notable for plant species either endemic to alpine meadows in the White Mountains or outliers of larger populations in arctic regions far to the north.

More rounded Tuckerman Ravine is New England's best-known site for spring back-country skiing as late as June and then a scenic hiking route.

[49] At the summit is a center with a museum, gift shop, observation area, cafeteria, and the Mount Washington Observatory.

After hiking 2.3 miles (3.7 km) from the visitor center in Pinkham Notch, the trail will take a right turn onto the Lion Head Summer Route.

[65] Due to its status as the highest elevation in the northeast United States, the top of the mountain is a popular site for stations that require transmission ranges over a broad territory, but which operate on frequencies that are generally limited to line-of-sight coverage.

At this time investigations were begun into establishing radio stations broadcasting on "Very High Frequency" (VHF) assignments above 30 MHz.

WMNE ceased operations in late 1948, due to excessive maintenance costs, and concern that a mandatory frequency change to the new FM "high band" would cause an unacceptable decrease in transmission range.

[74] In its first decades, WMTW served as the ABC Network affiliate for the Portland, Burlington, Montreal and Sherbrooke television markets, thanks to its wide coverage area.

WHOM and WMTW-TV shared a transmitter building, which also housed the generators used to supply electrical power to the various facilities atop the mountain.

However, on February 9, 2003, a major fire broke out in the generator room of the transmitter building, which had become the property of the state only a year earlier when WMTW left the summit.

Temporary generators had to be transported up the mountain to restore power to the observatory and to the Yankee building, which houses important public safety communications equipment.

The Yankee Building also remains and continues to serve as a communications facility, housing equipment for numerous tenants including cellular telephone providers and public safety agencies.

The NWS coverage map indicates that it can be heard throughout most of New Hampshire, western Maine, northeast Vermont, and portions of southern Canada.

[81] The foreword to the 2009 edition states that many of the deaths over the past 150 years can be attributed to poor planning and lack of understanding of "the difference in weather between Boston and the mountains.

William Buckingham Curtis, often posthumously called "the father of American amateur athletics", died from exhaustion on June 30, 1900, near Lakes of the Clouds Hut during a summer snowstorm.

[83] Inspired by the Hudson River School of landscape painting, a number of artists during the Victorian era ventured into the White Mountains in search of natural subjects.