Purple Mountains Majesties
by Jon Burch Photography
Title
Purple Mountains Majesties
Artist
Jon Burch Photography
Medium
Photograph - Digital Capture & Enhancement
Description
"America the Beautiful" is an American patriotic song. The lyrics were written by Katharine Lee Bates, and the music was composed by church organist and choirmaster Samuel A. Ward at Grace Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey.
Bates originally wrote the words as a poem, "Pikes Peak", first published in the Fourth of July edition of the church periodical The Congregationalist in 1895. At that time, the poem was titled "America" for publication. Ward had originally written the music, "Materna", for the hymn "O Mother dear, Jerusalem" in 1882, though it was not first published until 1892. Ward's music combined with the Bates poem was first published in 1910 and titled "America the Beautiful". The song is one of the most popular of the many U.S. patriotic songs.
Looking west from Loveland, Colorado one sees this 14,259 foot mountain in northern Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park. Longs Peak has served as a navigational aid for thousands of years. Prehistoric hunters oriented their travels by it and the Ute Indians saw it as a sacred place and guiding landmark. French speaking fur trappers called Longs Peak and adjacent Mt. Meeker "Les Deux Oreilles," or the Two Ears.
After Major Stephen H. Long led a U.S. Army topographic expedition to this region in 1820, the peak was named for him. As Major Long and his party of 22 explorers neared the Rocky Mountains, he wrote, "a high Peake was plainly to be distinguished towering above all the others as far as sight extended." Modern travelers still use this famous landmark to orient themselves when needed...
Some digital effects were applied to the original image after the photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during the transition.
Image in the very early morning hours and copyright 2020 Jon Burch Photography
Uploaded
May 30th, 2020
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