UPDATE: The State of Vermont Board of Libraries voted unanimously Tuesday afternoon to reject the proposal to rename Mount Ascutney to Kaskadenak.
(A previous story continues below here ...)
A Vermont man wants Mount Ascutney—which looms over the Connecticut River valley west of Claremont and Cornish in New Hampshire—renamed Kaskadenak.
Rob Hutchins, of Hartland, Vt., says the name Ascutney is made up and the original name of the summit was Kaskadenak, which means "wide mountain" in the Abenaki language.
Several towns in the region known for the mountain, which stands 3,144 feet above sea level, are opposed to the change.
The state of Vermont Board of Libraries is responsible for geographic naming in Vermont. It has scheduled a hearing on Tuesday on the name change.
Three years ago, the name of America's tallest mountain was changed from Mount McKinley to Denali in a symbolic gesture to Alaskan natives.
Mount Ascutney State Park is one of Vermont's earliest state parks. The Green Mountain State's website for the park says the name is a derivative of several Abenaki words meaning "mountain of the rocky summit."
