Great Bay Reserve, New Hampshire

Cultural History

The Great Bay Estuary's abundant natural resources attracted Paleo-indians to the area 4000 to 6000 years ago. Tools, including an adze from that period and numerous artifacts from more recent American Indian occupations, were unearthed in archaeological digs at the Sandy Point Discovery Center site. Abenaki Indians of the Msquamskek tribe occupied the area during European colonization in the early 1600s. Shell middens at Adams Point confirm the presence of a base camp between 650 and 800 A.D.

The extensive estuary with miles of navigable waterways made transportation by vessel easier than by wagons over roads. The early European settlers invented the gundalow, a sailing barge. From 1650s to the early 1900s, gundalows plied the waters from miles up small rivers through the bay down the great Piscataqua River 20 miles to the Atlantic Ocean at Portsmouth. The gundalows carried bricks made of Great Bay blue clay to Boston, cord wood, fish, salt marsh hay, etc.

Adams Point was the site of a popular summer resort during the 1800s as well as a shipyard and farm. Throughout the upland areas are signs of the King's white pines that served as masts for the King's ships.

The watershed of Great Bay was clear-cut for wood to fire the brick kilns and for building. Core drilling shows evidence that the whole bay was once covered by several inches of sawdust from the dozens of saw mills around the bay's shores. Imagine the impact of that plus soil run-off on the flora and fauna of the estuary!

Grist mills and tanneries on the rivers of the estuary contributed significantly to the chemical pollution until the mid 1900s. New sewage treatment plants have improved the level of organic pollution. When the Greek entrepreneur Aristotle Onassis proposed building the Olympic Oil Refinery in the town of Durham along the shore of Great Bay in 1973, local citizens mobilized and by exercising their right to "home rule," defeated the proposal by a margin of nine to one. They then petitioned the state and federal governments to designate the Great Bay as the Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve in 1989.

The shore of the lower estuary in New Hampshire is now heavily industrialized along the Piscataqua River. Oil depots and power plants plus a new, major port pose some concerns about the health of the estuary. However, contingency plans are in place. At present the estuary is more healthy than it has been for 250 years. Non-point source pollution is being addressed. Residents and visitors to the area enjoy recreational activities on the estuary. The public and decision makers are beginning to recognize the significance of the Great Bay Estuary to the shellfish and other marine fisheries.