RHS Feb 8th-David Miller - Native Peoples Along Piscataqua Watershed

Who were the Native Peoples that lived in the Piscataqua River Watershed

In Pre-contact Times- before 1600? Can We Put them back on the Map?


On Thursday, February 8, at 7 PM at the Rochester Historical Society
Museum
on Hanson Street, David Miller will present Native Americans
along the River.


A number of years ago in conversation a local
fellow told Mr. Miller that during the great hurricane of 1938, when the
pine trees were blown over in the Hansen Pines Forest Park in
Rochester, there was found at the base of a large pine a large dump of
shells left by the native people. This led him to thinking who were
these people? What do we know about this site?


When Mr. Miller went
looking for an accurate detailed study of the Indians who lived in this
area he found none existed. He took it upon himself to try to rectify
this gap in the historic record.


In his research on the native
peoples in this area of New Hampshire, he discovered there has not been
any detailed written analysis done to date. The area he referring to is
the Piscataqua River watershed. This geographic area had all the
elements necessary for comfortable survival and prolonged life for the
native peoples who lived here before contact with Europeans starting in
the late 1400s and early 1500s.(The Basque were secretly fishing here
for about 200 years before Columbus appeared on the scene)


When
one reviews the literature on the native peoples of New England over the
last hundred plus years we find on the various maps each to be
different from the others as to a label being applied to the native
people in the Piscataqua River watershed. The name most frequently
applied for this subgroup was the Pennacook tribe. Does the research
prove or disprove this label?


The outcome of Mr. Miller’s research
will be shared with you. He has prepared a detailed map of where the
native villages were located and the Indian names for each village and
the Indian names for surrounding physical features including the rivers,
lakes and mountains.

At the same time he will discuss an ongoing
project taking place at the University of New Hampshire that he has been
a part of to develop an internet interactive STORY MAP entitled
“Indigenous Cultural Heritage in New Hampshire”


Accompany his oral presentation will be a PowerPoint slide show and hand out of his research.


The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will follow the meeting. For more information please call (603) 330-3099 or e-mail rochesterhistorical@metrocast.net.


Thank you, Martha Fowler, President Rochester Historical Society