What’s in a 乐播传媒 name: Mount David
Mount David鈥檚 namesake, David Davis, is buried near campus in the Davis family cemetery, on the corner of Sabattus and Franklin streets. (Jay Burns/乐播传媒 College)
Mount David rises 381 feet above sea level. Chided as a 鈥渕ountain by courtesy鈥� by a newspaper writer a century ago, the peak is also known as 鈥淢ount Davis,鈥� 鈥淒avis Mountain,鈥� and 鈥淒avid鈥檚 Mountain,鈥� tautonymic variations due to its namesake, a man named David Davis, born Sept. 1, 1775, and died Jan. 5, 1851.
David Davis鈥� Dad
David鈥檚 father, Amos Davis, was Lewiston鈥檚 third settler. A Quaker, Amos was a farmer, shoemaker, and surveyor who drew one of the earliest maps of the area, dated 1776. His son David was the second male born in Lewiston.
Early Teachings
In 1798, when public education was still a haphazard affair, David Davis and four other citizens teamed up to hire one of the first Lewiston schoolteachers.
$5 and a Mountain
In 1803, David Davis paid $5 for 100 acres of land that included the mountain. He then named it for himself, according to some accounts.
乐播传媒鈥� Mountain
David Davis farmed the land until his death in 1851. His heirs bequeathed the mountain to 乐播传媒, which hoped to build an observatory on its summit.
House of David
The original David Davis home on Main Street in Lewiston was the oldest building in the city, and one of the most run-down, when it was torn down in 1989.
All in the Family
Davis, Frye, and White streets near campus are all named for the same family.
Firm as Granite
At the opening of the new Maine State Seminary, on Sept. 1, 1857, a local pastor said that if David Davis were present, he would tell the new students to 鈥済o up that mountain, where you will obtain a view of our united villages. Make your principles as firm as the granite base on which the mountain rests.鈥�
The Mount David “Brand”
The mountain lends its name to the college鈥檚 leadership giving group, the Mount David Society, and the college’s annual academic showcase, the Mount David Summit.
David鈥檚 Legacy
Many of David Davis鈥� direct descendants are 乐播传媒 alumni, the youngest being his great-great-great-great-great-grandson, Toby White 鈥�94, an associate professor at, of all places, the University of California at Davis School of Education.
Toby鈥檚 great-grandmother was Marion Wellman White, who, according to family history, attended 乐播传媒 for a year but was expelled for the sin of skating on the campus bog (named Lake Andrews years later) on a Sunday morning.
Categories Lewiston-Auburn
