JOHN JOSEPH ENNEKING (1841-1916)
Crotched Mountain (629 m - 2,063 ft)
United States of America (New Hampshire)
In Crotched Mountain in October, oil on canvas, 1891
The mountain
Crotched Mountain (629 m- 2,063 ft) is a small mountain in western Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, in the United States. The summit of the mountain is in the town of Francestown, while the western slopes of the mountain rise in the town of Bennington, and a long southern ridge of the mountain is in Greenfield. The mountain was named for its appearance. Early settlers thought its V-shaped peaks resembled the fork or "crotch" of a tree.
The Crotched Mountain Ski & Ride occupies the northern slopes of the mountain. It has 25 trails, 5 chairlifts, and 900 feet (270 m) of vertical drop. The Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center occupies a portion of the mountain's southern ridge in Greenfield.
The mountain was the site of the world's first wind farm. In 1980, US Windpower installed 20 wind turbines rated at 30 kilowatts each, on the shoulder of Crotched Mountain. The company went out of business and the wind turbines were dismantled years ago.
The Painter
John Joseph Enneking was an American Impressionist painter associated with the Boston School.
Enneking was born of German ancestry in Minster, Ohio. He was educated at Mount St. Mary's College, Cincinnati, served in the American Civil War in 1861-1862, studied art in New York and Boston, and gave it up because his eyes were weak, only to return to it after failing in the manufacture of tinware.
From 1873 to 1876 he studied in Münich under Schleich and Leier, and in Paris under Daubigny and Bonnat. In 1878-1879, he studied in Paris again and sketched in the Netherlands. Enneking is a plein air painter, and his favorite subject is the November twilight of New England, and more generally the half lights of early spring, late autumn, and winter dawn and evening.
Enneking died at Boston in 1916. The Enneking Parkway in Hyde Park, Massachusetts is named after Enneking.
