One of the Merrimack Paddle Challenge excursions takes participants past the controversial Hannah Duston Memorial, one of many historic points of interest that is highlighted on the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective’s StoryMap. Here, the Forest Society’s Dave Anderson, senior director of education, paddles near the site in Boscawen.
Paddling to the Past Learn about the indigenous history of the Merrimack River and how advocates are trying to restore it today By Anna Berry
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or centuries, the history of the Abenaki people has been intertwined with the Merrimack River. As the head speakers of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki people describe, the Indigenous peoples of the region were the first caretakers of this mighty waterway and stewards of the natural world. “We were true conservationists,” says Paul Pouliot of the Cowasuck Band. He goes by the tribal title Sag8mo, which translates to head male speaker/grand chief. But that environmental legacy isn’t only in the past tense. “We try to expand the education being taught to show that we had a sustainable lifestyle and it’s possible to go back to that today,” says Denise Pouliot, the Sag8moskwa (head female speaker) of the Cowasuck Band. 10 | FOREST NOTES Summer 2021
Their educational initiatives, developed as members of the Indigenous NH Collaborative Collective, have included the creation of a Harvest Calendar curriculum and a digital StoryMap of Indigenous heritage sites across New Hampshire. Five of the historical sites are in the Merrimack River watershed, including the Hannah Duston Memorial State Historic Site in Boscawen, N.H. Since 2020, the Cowasuck Band, who are based in Alton, N.H., have been working with New Hampshire State Parks, historians, local officials, and Duston’s descendants to “reconstruct the park into a space that highlights a deeper understanding of place and New Hampshire history.” The working name is “Unity Park N’Dakinna.”
