Mount Clay is a peak located in Thompson and Meserve's Purchase in Coos County in the

Presidential Range The Presidential Range is a mountain range located in the White Mountains of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. It contains the highest peaks of the Whites, the most notable of which are named for American presidents, followed by prominent ...

of the White Mountains of

New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

. It is a rise about long and a few hundred feet tall, with summit

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of ; it lies on the ridge joining the summits of Mount Washington, about to the south-southeast, with that of Mount Jefferson, about north. The

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

, coinciding there with the Gulfside Trail, rises about a hundred feet approaching it northbound, and passes from the summit, below it. The Mt. Clay Loop passes over the summit. The Jewell Trail is a popular choice as a relatively less strenuous route to Mt. Washington's summit; hikers ascending it, eastbound, from the vicinity of the cog rail base station join the Gulfside Trail about from Clay's summit and about below, and give up about in descending the southern tail of Clay, before resuming the ascent of Washington. The mountain is named for

Henry Clay Henry Clay (April 12, 1777June 29, 1852) was an American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate, U.S. Senate and United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives. He was the seventh Spea ...

, 19th-century senator and U.S. Secretary of State from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, known as "The Great Compromiser". In 2003, the New Hampshire

state legislature A state legislature is a Legislature, legislative branch or body of a State (country subdivision), political subdivision in a Federalism, federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of ...

, participating in a Reagan Legacy project, made it state law that Mt. Clay "shall hereafter be called and known as Mount Reagan," after President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

. The legal force of this is limited to actions by the state of New Hampshire. The U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN) voted in May 2010 not to change the name of the mountain. Maps used in connection with foot travel in the Presidentials are typically published by the

U.S. Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on March ...

(which adheres by law to BGN's naming), and by the

Appalachian Mountain Club Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) is the oldest outdoor group in the United States. Created in 1876 to explore and preserve the White Mountains (New Hampshire), White Mountains in New Hampshire, it has expanded throughout the northeastern U.S., wit ...

and two New England companies, all three of whom use "Clay" and make no mention of "Reagan". Although well over in height above sea level, the Appalachian Mountain Club does not consider Mount Clay a "four-thousand footer" because it stands less than above the col on the ridge from Washington, making it a secondary summit of that peak.

References

External links

PeakBagger.com: Mount Clay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Mount Mountains of New Hampshire White Mountains (New Hampshire) Mountains of Coös County, New Hampshire Monuments and memorials to Ronald Reagan Henry Clay