An Essay and Visit With Henry van Dyke
The above question is used as the title for a collection of Henry van Dyke essays and short stories published in 1995. Henry van Dyke was a turn of the century Protestant pastor known for his spiritual writings, but less well known for his nature writings highlighted in the 1995 book. A short story with the same title as the collected works tells of the author's hike among New Hampshire's Franconia Mountains with his young son. The time was probably well before 1900, but the modern world had already brought tremendous changes to the formerly wild mountains.
While enjoying the view of the Franconia Mountains, the young son asks "Father, who owns the mountains?". The father knew of the timber interests that held title to most of those slopes and told his son those names. The son very smartly responded "Well , I don't see what difference that makes. Everybody can look at them.". A response I can readily agree with, even though we hold title to a mountain ourselves.
Van Dyke used the rest of the short story as an essay questioning and defining real and personal property and critically examining society's quest to accumulate things, whether it be art, books, or tracts of land. He suggests that we can all own those things, by enjoying them and holding their image or words in our minds, without being owner of the physical item. We feel a certain sense of possession over our First Mountain land, but recognize that we cannot truly possess or own the land and are merely entrusted with its stewardship during our lifetime. We certainly don't post our mountain land against trespass or even hunting, for we agree with New Hampshire's position that open, natural lands are available for all to enjoy. Still, we don't go out of the way to invite the public onto the property or to publicize the growing trail network and wonderful vistas. It is not because it is "ours" and we wish to exclude others, but because we recognize that some people may not have the same respect for the land that we do and that their uses might be detrimental to both the wildlife and the wildness of the land. We welcome all who support our care of the land and wish to explore it under their own foot power, leaving no trace, and removing no flora or fauna. Everyone else is certainly invited to "look", just as the van Dyke story suggests.
Van Dyke concludes his short story with this passage: " Come my boy, let us go home. You and I are very rich. We own the mountains. But we can never sell them, and we don't want to.".
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