Before European settlers arrived in the region, the mountain was known by various indigenous peoples as "Kodaak Wadjo" ("the top is so hidden" or "summit of the highest mountain") or "Agiochook" or "Agiocochook" ("the place of the Great Spirit" or "the place of the Concealed One"). The Algonquians called it "Waumbik", "white rocks". The Abenaki people inhabiting the region at the time of European contact believed that the tops of mountains were the dwelling place of the gods, and so among other reasons did not climb them out of religious deference to their sanctity.