This is the front of one of the postcards I made about Cardigan.
Location
The absolute location of the summit of Mt. Cardigan is N 43 degrees, 38 minutes, 58 seconds and W 71 degrees, 54 minutes, and 50.7 seconds. The elevation is about 2,400 feet. Mt. Cardigan is in both Alexandria and Orange. The summit of Cardigan is slightly south of the summit of Firescrew and also slightly west of it. The summit is north of the AMC lodge and also a bit west of it. Mt. Cardigan's summit is north of Hopkinton, and also west. The summit is east of Canaan, as well as Lebanon, and Hartford. It is west of Bridgewater, Ashland, and Meredith. Dorchester, Rumney, and Warren are to the north of Mt. Cardigan, while Grafton, Wilmot, New London, and Andover are to the south. Newfound Lake, Squam Lake, and Lake Winnipesaukee are all east of the summit, South Branch Baker River Reservoir, Bryant Pond, and Derby Pond are all to the north. To the west lies Canaan Street Lake, Mirror Lake, and Bear Pond. To the south is Grants Pond, Waukeena Lake, and School Pond. Fowler River and Brock Brook lie to the east, South Branch Baker River and Cockermouth River to the north, Indian River and Orange Brook to the west and Hoyt Brook and Mill Brook to the south. This is the absolute and relative location of the summit of Mt. Cardigan.
Cultural Place
One cultural part of Cardigan is the firetower on the summit. Along with the tower on the summit, there are also many carvings of people's names, some hundreds of years old! And then there is the actual summit marker, the geodetic marker. Just off the summit is the fire warden's house, another cultural part of Cardigan. The trails going all around Cardigan and Firescrew are also cultural parts, as are the cairns and blazes that mark them and the signposts that show which trail is which. The signposts also tell the distance to a certain location (the summit of Firescrew, the AMC lodge, the next trail intersection, etc). Yet another cultural part of Cardigan is the cellar hole on the way to Whelton Falls, and the fence at Whelton Falls to keep hikers from tumbling over the edge of the precipice. The crew bridge at the bottom of the Alexandria Ski Trail is another example of culture at Cardigan. There are also some parts of Cardigan that could be classified as either cultural or physical: the pond, the apple trees, and the tree roots in the trail. The pond can also be classified as physical because, though it was man made, it has become more natural over time. Apple trees are not native to the Cardigan area so seeds or saplings must have been brought by humans, but though humans have interfered originally, they are still trees which are considered physical. They have been growing naturally since. The tree roots in the trails are also natural, but have been exposed by humans walking over them and compressing and eroding the soil around them. Those are some of the cultural aspects of Cardigan, though there are more.
Physical Place
One physical characteristic of Cardigan was the abundance of spruce trees, especially at higher elevations. There was a large puddle at the top of Cardigan and an alpine bog on the summit of Firescrew. Cardigan has a bare granite summit, with many smaller rocks scattered around. At lower elevations, beech, birch, and maple trees were most abundant. Whelton Falls is another important characteristic of the area around Cardigan mountain. The logs that had fallen across the stream were plentiful, as were cucumber roots and wood sorrel. There were also many tree roots that had come above the surface of the trail but that is partially because many people have trodden down the layers of soil. Therefor, the tree roots could also fit into a cultural description the the Mt. Cardigan area. Two more examples of things that can fit into both categories are the pond and the apple trees. Apple trees are not native to the area and so must have been brought by people. The pond could also classify as cultural because it was man-made, though it has grown more natural as time goes on.
