The towering legacy of American statesman William Learned Marcy is found in the name of the state's highest peak, 5,344-foot Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. Originally called Tahawus, a Native American name meaning "cloud splitter," it was named for Marcy who as governor authorized the survey that explored and documented the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.

Marcy grew up on a farm in Sturbridge, Mass., graduated from Brown University in 1808 and became a lawyer in private practice in Troy. He fought in the War of 1812 and returned to the Collar City, where he got his start in politics as the city's first recorder and assistant mayor. He became state comptroller in 1823 and moved across the Hudson River to Albany. In the state Capitol, he allied himself with Samuel J. Tilden, Horatio Seymour, Martin Van Buren and others who formed a Democratic Party "holy alliance" known as the Albany Regency, one of the earliest political machines in the country. After six years as comptroller, his political prominence led to his appointment as an associate justice of the state Supreme Court, followed by his election to the U.S. Senate. He returned from Washington, won his campaign for governor in 1833 and served three terms.