Cultural History
Native Americans were the first to live on the shores of Great Bay. They survived on the abundant fish, shellfish, waterfowl and mammals that lived in and around the estuary.
The early 17th century brought the arrival of European settlers who also took advantage of the seemingly endless supply of resources. They used the bay to transport their harvests. The tidal influence was the perfect way to move goods without much human or animal effort. A simple, flat-bottomed boat, the gundalow, was developed to make use of the tides and carry heavy loads in shallow waters.
Gundalows transported many types of freight. Saltmarsh hay, lumber, fish, clay and textiles were just a few of the cargoes. Salt hay harvested along the shores was used as food and bedding for horses and cattle. Sawmills located along the tidal rivers produced lumber that was exported to other U.S. ports. Core drilling shows evidence that the whole bay was once covered by several inches of sawdust from the dozens of sawmills around the bay's shores. The lumber produced also fueled the shipbuilding business along the Piscataqua River until steam-powered steel vessels became cheaper to build. Brickyards also dotted the shores of Great Bay and its tributaries. Blue marine clay was harvested from along the estuary shores and made into bricks that were used to build locally and all around New England. Cotton mills were an important part of the Industrial Revolution. Wherever gundalow ports were, mills were built.
The estuary continued to be heavily used for commercial purposes throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Gristmills and tanneries on the rivers of the estuary contributed significantly to the chemical pollution until the mid 20th century. 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.
Read more about this topic: Great Bay (New Hampshire)
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