That Hard-to-Pronounce Highway is Turning 50

“There wasn’t a big celebration or ribbon-cutting,” says Jayne O’Connor, President of White Mountain Attractions, the tourism marketing group that’s organizing the 50th Anniversary events.

“Apparently they just sort of opened it as soon as they could, so now we’re taking the time to celebrate it.”

O’Connor admits, she had no idea the milestone was coming.

“One of the local press people called me one day and said, so what are you guys doing for the 50th anniversary of the Kanc? And I said, it’s the what?”

There’s a lot more history to this road than just those fifty years; the planning process got underway as far back as 1929 with the initial land surveys. Construction began a decade later, going in spurts whenever federal funds were available. World War Two slowed things down, but by late summer of 1959, the project was done, and the new road needed a name.

Some people in Lincoln wanted to call it the “Lincoln Highway” but a state legislator lobbied to call it Kancamagus, after the savvy Penacook tribal leader. In the 1600s, Kancamagus fought off encroaching white settlers, but also sought their protection from his enemies. Kancamagus is also the name of the mountain that the thirty-four and a half-mile highway carves into.

Before the road was built, the drive from Lincoln to Conway was more than 60 miles.

“People would have to go all the way through two different notches to get to either one of the communities,” explains Carol Riley, the President of the Upper Pemigewasset Historical Society in Lincoln.

“The Kancamagus made it that much more accessible, and it certainly did develop both of the communities by having that access,” Riley says.

The highway also revealed some of New England’s most striking mountain wilderness views.

“It gives access to everyone to the best parts of the White Mountains National Forest,” says O’Connor.

“It’s a huge draw for us on the tourism side. It’s a national scenic byway, so it’s promoted nationally as one of the most beautiful roads in the country to drive.”

It also might be one of the hardest to pronounce.

Outside the White Mountain Attractions Visitors’ Center, tourists who give it a try most often pronounce the word as Kangamangus.

Other common forms include Kankamungus, Kangamaygus, and even exotic iterations like Kowamunga and Kankymanky.

“My parents say Kankamangus, so I started saying Kankamangus,” explains one tourist from New Hampton, New Hampshire.

People mispronounce the word incorrectly even when they’re looking at its correct spelling, many New Hampshire natives get it wrong, and Kangamangas even turns up hundreds of hits in an Internet search.

People just seem to like saying it that way.

The mispronunciation problem doesn’t seem to prevent tourists from finding the Kancamagus Highway in droves. More than one million people cruise the road each year, and there’s been so much interest in celebrating its 50th anniversary that the short ceremony organizers initially planned has turned into a two-day event.