Piscataqua People Activity
This activity allows us to learn about the history of the Piscataqua region, the people who lived there, and their environmental impact.
Instructors: Your students will go through the narrative by clicking on the links in blue. There are questions after the first informational sheet (about the "people" your student has chosen), and at the end of the activity. Have your students write or type these and send them to you to show that they've completed the activity.
Students: Follow the story by clicking on the links in blue. You will need a sheet of paper or a word document to answer questions along the way.
Now let's learn about the [[People of the Piscataqua Region]]Next, we will read about some of the groups of people who settled and used this land. You get to choose one of the groups to be during this activity. You must chose one group per round, but don't worry, you can always do this again!
Choose who you would like to be:
[[Native Americans]]
[[Settlers]]
[[Lumbermen]]
[[Shipbuilders]]
[[Merchants]]
[[Industrialists]]Your people have been in this region for over 6,000 years. You are Abenakis, who live in the central coastal region of what the English called New England. You have developed an advanced culture - making weapons, tools, fishing gear, boats, homes and clothing from materials such as stone, wood, bone, and animal hide. You have become experts at farming, fishing, trapping, and hunting. You travel the rivers and to off-shore islands easily in lightweight, fast canoes made with bent wood frames and birch bark hulls.
You live close to the land and understand the water, fish and other animals that you depend on. You clear out forest undergrowth for easier running and hunting, build nets in the narrows of the river to catch fish, and move with the seasons; in winter, inland for hunting, trapping, and firewood; in summer, close to the fishing areas, oyster beds, and clam flats where you can also tend your gardens.
In bad times you must defend yourselves against the northern Mic Macs who do not farm but raid your villages for food. Recently your numbers have been greatly reduced by a new sickness. The white men first came temporarily to fish from the offshore islands. Now they have begun to settle permanently on the mainland, sometimes bringing their families and even strange animals to live with them.
Before choosing where to live, let's answer these [[questions about the Native Americans]] to assess your resources.
When the first Europeans explorers returned home from exploring the northeast coast of North America, they told stories of the many things they found: plenty of fish, furbearing animals, and great forests. As word spread, people came by ship to settle in the newly discovered land. They found the fish, forests of trees, and fertile land for farming. They traded with Native Americans and farmed the land. The rivers became highways that were used for trade and the settlers built a special boat called a gundalow. With a flat bottom and a shallow draft, gundalows could be used in shallow water and tidal rivers where boats with full keels might get stuck. Settlers dug clay from the river banks to make bricks, and used the bricks to build houses and factories.
Life was difficult for the settlers in the beginning. They cleared land, planted crops and built houses. They used the rivers for transportation and as a source of energy and food. They decided what crops to grow, where to build their homes and how to get along with the Native Americans.
Before choosing where to live, you need to answer these [[questions about the Settlers]] to assess your resources. Your bosses in England wanted gold, but you found something even more valuable: vast forests of tall pines, mighty oaks, beautiful birch trees, and many other species of trees in size and numbers that had not been seen in Europe for a thousand years.
Almost everything in your world is made from wood: ships, masts, houses, furniture, tools, weapons, windmills, water wheels, and more.
Your job is to make money for your bosses. You need to identify the tallest and straightest pines as masts for the ships of the King’s Navy. You can cut trees closest to the rivers and “raft” them down to the port for export. Later you’ll need to make trails to pull trees from the interior to the rivers. If you build sawmills on the rivers, the finished lumber will be easier to export than whole logs. You can begin to sell it for local use and to other colonies, using a flat-bottomed gundalow to transport lumber through the region.
Before choosing where to live, you need to answer these [[questions about Lumbermen]] to assess your resources.
People coming to the Piscataqua Region saw a wide, deep, swiftly flowing river with a protected harbor at its mouth. They saw forests filled with large trees that could be sawed into lumber to build houses and ships. So many people began building ships and houses that the forests began to disappear.
Some of the white pines were so large that the King of England made a law declaring that all trees three feet thick or more at the base could only be cut for masts for his ships.
Lumbermen cut down trees and floated them to sawmills along the rivers. Gundalows and wagons took the lumber to shipyards. The shipbuilders launched their ships and traded with the settlers for shingles, bricks, potatoes, and fish to load their ships.
Building ships is a complicated business that required many workers. Shipbuilders needed carpenters, blacksmiths, sailmakers, ropemakers and painters. The towns grew larger as these workers and their families settled in the region.
The Piscataqua became a very busy port with ships from all over the worlds coming and going with valuable cargos.
Before choosing where to live and build your shipyard, you need to answer these [[questions about Shipbuilders]] to assess your resources.You are a healer and an expert on herbal medicines, which you have brought with you to transplant in the New World. Your husband is a skilled trader and experienced merchant who has many goods to trade. You will need to establish a home, a store, and an herb garden, plus a warehouse and dock for both gundalows and ocean-going ships.
Eventually you hope to create a two or three-way trade with the local area, other colonies further south, the Caribbean, and Europe. You want your growing medical practice to be close to the greatest number of people.
As people continue to settle in the Piscataqua Region, the demand for goods increases.
As a merchant you want to build your business and provide what the local people need.
Some families built warehouses where they could store goods before they were loaded onto ships and sailed to far-away ports like the West Indies. When ships returned from their voyages with cotton, sugar and molasses, these were also stored in the warehouses. Merchants visited the warehouses to buy or trade for things to sell in their stores.
Before choosing where to build your trading post and warehouse, you need to answer these [[questions about Merchants]] to assess your resources.
For many years people in the Piscataqua Region made shoes, furniture, cloth, hats and clothing by themselves. Later, people invented machines that made these goods. The machines did all the work and people only had to make sure the machines worked properly.
Industrialists built large buildings called “factories”, filled with machines run by waterpower. Soon there were factories making cloth, paper, shoes and other manufactured goods (things that had be made, not grown) that merchants sold in their stores.
Industrialists built dams across the rivers, using the water to turn waterwheels that made the machines in the factory work. Later they used coal to heat water in order to make steam that would run the machines. The smoke from the burning coal polluted the air.
The factories needed people to make sure the machines worked properly. The factory owner paid people who once had been farmers, or who worked at home, to work in the factories. Young men, women and even children worked in factories.
Waste from factories was dumped into the rivers, polluting the water. Pollution increased as Industrialists built more and more factories, and some river even smelled badly.
Before choosing where to build your factory, you need to answer these [[questions about Industiralists]] to assess your resources.
As an Abenaki, your people are skilled at fishing an canoeing. There is evidence that the Abenakis canoed through open ocean to the Isles of Shoals! However, areas close to the coast will not be great for farmland, and with more European settlers arriving on the shores, you want to be further inland to have more space to farm and to live.
Fishing alone cannot sustain your poulation.
Try choosing a different place to live, such as:
[[Close to a river where there is also fertile soil and forest]]
or go back to the beginning:
[[People of the Piscataqua Region]] The Abenakis were nomadic people moving with the seasons. But living nearby a river is a good choice for the summer months. With fertile soil, you can farm. The river provides great fishing, and you can travel the waters using canoes.
Your people are well-established in this area. You know how to live here successfully. The English settlers do not, and they also bring goods from other areas of the world that are new to you. However, they are also beginning to take land that was once yours. Do you want to [[trade]] with them? Living nearby a river allows you to travel to other areas- the rivers were like highways, and your gundalow is the perfect vehicle for the tidal rivers of this region.
You can also make bricks using the clay from the river. The salt marsh hay is also a great food source for your livestock.
Now that you've established your home, think about what else you need to survive- maybe something you can't make or grow on your own- and [[trade]] with other people of the Piscataqua region. In the forest, you would have enough lumber from the trees to build things, and space for your livestock. However, clearing the land would eventually destroy the forest. In fact, about 200 years ago there were 5 sheep to every 1 person in VT and NH, and much of the forests we see now were cleared.
Since you live far away from people, how would you travel to trade for other goods?
Living anywhere that's too isolated would make your life as a settler even harder. Instead, you could choose to live [[Near a river]] since rivers were used for travel, or you can go back to the beginning: [[People of the Piscataqua Region]] By living close to a river and a forest you can transport your lumber, and dam the river in order to power your sawmill. After you find and cut down your kind pines, you can ship them down river on your gundalow to the shipbuilder!
You even dump your sawdust in the river. The early English settlers thought dumping things in the rivers made them go away. There's even a layer of sediment in the Great Bay that is formed from saw dust!
Now that you've established your sawmill, think about what else you need to survive and [[trade]] with the other people of the Piscataqua region. The deep forest of the mountains region seems like a great place to find lumber- there are many King Pines there!
But once you've cut down a tree, how would you saw it into usable lumber? How would you transport it to be sold?
Instead, you may want to live [[Close to a forest and a river]] both to transport your lumber, and to dam the river in order to power your sawmill.
You even dump your sawdust in the river! The early English settlers thought dumping things in the rivers made them go away. There's even a layer of sediment in the Great Bay that is formed from saw dust. The mouth of the river is an excellent place for a shipyard. In fact, the Portsmouth water front was a shipyard, and still continues to be today with the Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME!
Lumber deliveries, and other shipbuilding supplies travel by gundalow down the river for you and your fellow workers to craft into a ship. This location allows you to make large sea-faring vessels that can sail in the deep water near the river mouth and out into the ocean.
Now that you've established your shipyard, think about what else you need to survive and [[trade]] with other people of the Piscataqua region. Being close to the lumber suppliers is a good idea. You also want to be close to a river to build your boats on the water, instead of transporting them on land.
There is only one problem with this location. The rivers in this region are tidal- meaning they have a high and low tide. Low tide can be too shallow for the schooners and large sea-faring boats you build.
So, you can choose to stay here and build gundalows full-time, supplying the region with flat bottom boats that are perfect for carrying cargo up and down these rivers, or, you can choose to move [[Close to the mouth of the river, where it meets the ocean]]. A large clearing of land would be perfect for you to continue growing medicinal herbs, but what about the people who need those medicines? How will you get to them?
You could certainly build your own gundalow and use the river to travel to other people. But, as a merchant, you need to be in a location nearby other people, that the ships from the sea can get to. If you want to choose to move to live [[In a location near the mouth of the river near town]], go ahead, or you can go back to [[People of the Piscataqua Region]] and start again. Living near a town, or at least near other settlers allows them to easily come trade with you. Your location at the mouth of the river allows you to easily get more goods that come from far away places on ships, such as cotton, coffee, and molasses.
Now that you've established your warehouse and tradepost, other people of the Piscataqua region would like to [[trade]] with you. You're thinking like an industrialist! Maximizing space = maximizing profit.
But, how will your workers get to you if the factory is located far away from town? Secondly, how will you power your factory? Coal power has not been invented yet, and you need to dam a river to power your mill. You can choose to re-locate your factory to be [[Nearby a river and in a town]] or start over: [[People of the Piscataqua Region]] This is an ideal place to build a factory. Before coal is burned for power, you will need to dam a river to provide hydropower for your factory. Being near a town means that you have plenty of workers who can get to you easily, and customers to buy your finished goods.
Even though the people of the town are happy to have another kind of work (instead of farming) and new goods to buy, like fabric, the factory also dumps waste into the river and eventually burns coal, polluting the air.
Now that you've established your factory, think about what you need or want in order to live and [[trade]] with the other people of the Piscataqua region. Before we paid money for things, people would barter; trading something they had for something else of equal value. Think about what you need, and what resources you would be willing to give up in order to make a trade.
Do you trade with:
[[The Native Americans for animal pelts and their knowledge of the land]]?
[[The settlers for their livestock or bricks]]?
[[The lumbermen for their lumber]]?
[[The shipbuilder for a gundalow]]?
[[The merchant for coffee, molasses, or medicinal herbs]]?
[[The industrialist for cloth or paper]]?Animal pelts will be very important during the harsh winter, and can be used as clothing, or as part of your home. Since all of the English settlers are new to this land and climate, they need to learn how to farm and fish from the Native Americans, the Abenaki tribe in this region.
What did you trade in order to get these goods?
Let's [[reflect]] on what we learned. Were you looking for an egg-laying chicken, a sheep for wool, or a cow for milk? Now you have one! Depending on where you live, you'll have to think about what kinds of space and food it needs. You might have to cut down a few trees for cows or sheep to have grazing space, or harvest salt marsh hay for their food.
What did you trade in order to get these goods?
Let's [[reflect]] on what we learned. Now you have beautiful materials to build all kinds of things! Can you think of all the things we make out of wood? Houses, furniture, boats, and more! What would you make with this lumber?
What did you trade in order to get these goods?
Let's [[reflect]] on what we learned. Gundalows are a special type of boat that are made for this region. The tidal rivers are very sallow, or even dry during low tide. The gundalow's flat hull (bottom of the boat) can float in a few feet of water, or sit on the mud without tipping over.
Originally, gundalows were more like rafts, and were moved only by the tides. Later, people added sails and a rudder to steer. Gundalows transported all kinds of goods up and down the rivers.
What did you trade in order to get these goods?
Let's [[reflect]] on what we learned. Now you have herbs to help common ailments, and luxurious items from other parts of the world! Coffee, and the sugar cane that makes molasses are both grown in warmer climates and have to be shipped by sea to reach your local merchant.
What did you trade in order to get these goods?
Let's [[reflect]] on what we learned. Now, instead of weaving the cloth or making paper yourself, both time consuming tasks, you have beautiful cotton textiles and paper to use for clothes and in your home!
What did you trade in order to get these goods?
Let's [[reflect]] on what we learned. Congratulations! You've completed the Piscataqua People activity!
But you can always go back to the list of [[People of the Piscataqua Region]] and learn about someone else.
To finish up, think back on what you learned and answer the questions below:
How did you your people change the landscape around you?
How did you use the natural resources to survive?
What traces of this history do we see today? For example- do you still see mill buildings? And how are they used today?
We are the new people of the Piscataqua region. What will our impact on the landscape be? How do we use its resources?Answer the questions below. If you need to go back and look at the last screen, click here:[[Native Americans]] or press the back button.
What are your main sources of food?
How do you use the water?
What is your job or role within the local community?
Who else in this region do you work with?
With this information in mind, where will you build your house and start fishing and farming?
[[Right on the coast to have access to the most fish]]
[[Close to a river where there is also fertile soil and forest]]Answer the questions below. If you need to go back and look at the last screen, click here:[[Settlers]] or press the back button.
What are your main sources of food?
How do you use the water?
What is your job or role within the local community?
Who else in this region do you work with?
Based on this information do you choose to settle:
[[Near a river]]
[[Deep in a forested area]]
Answer the questions below. If you need to go back and look at the last screen, click here:[[Lumbermen]] or press the back button.
What are your main sources of food?
How do you use the water?
What is your job or role within the local community?
Who else in this region do you work with?
Based on this information, would you want to live:
[[Close to a forest and a river]]
[[In the mountains region, where there is more lumber]]
Answer the questions below. If you need to go back and look at the last screen, click here: [[Shipbuilders]] or press the back button.
What are your main sources of food?
How do you use the water?
What is your job or role within the local community?
Who else in this region do you work with?
Based on this information, would you want to live:
[[Close to the mouth of the river, where it meets the ocean]]
[[Farther up river, closer to your lumber source]]
Answer the questions below. If you need to go back and look at the last screen, click here: [[Merchants]] or press the back button.
What are your main sources of food?
How do you use the water?
What is your job or role within the local community?
Who else in this region do you work with?
Based on this information, would you choose to live:
[[In a wide open area to clear land to farm your herbs]]
[[In a location near the mouth of the river near town]]
Answer the questions below. If you need to go back and look at the last screen, click here: [[Industrialists]] or press the back button.
What are your main sources of food?
How do you use the water?
What is your job or role within the local community?
Who else in this region do you work with?
Based on this information, would you want to build your factory:
[[Inland with space to build a large mill]]
[[Nearby a river and in a town]]
↶↷Piscataqua People Activity
This activity allows us to learn about the history of the Piscataqua region, the people who lived there, and their environmental impact.
Instructors: Your students will go through the narrative by clicking on the links in blue. There are questions after the first informational sheet (about the "people" your student has chosen), and at the end of the activity. Have your students write or type these and send them to you to show that they've completed the activity.
Students: Follow the story by clicking on the links in blue. You will need a sheet of paper or a word document to answer questions along the way.
Now let's learn about the People of the Piscataqua Region