On Sunday, after driving to Penacook Village, I launched into the Contoocook River across from Duston's Island at the river's confluence with the Merrimack. The launch site there is maintained by Briar Hydro Associates and signage is minimal, except right at the ramp itself...
Paddling to the Contoocook's Lower Falls required going around the north side of the island and past the abandoned Stratton and Co. Flour Mill...
Turned around and let the Contoocook float me down to the 1-acre Duston's Island at the confluence of the Contoocook and Merrimack rivers. I went ashore to visit the statue of Hannah Duston which stands on the island alongside the abandoned tracks of the old Northern Railroad...
On that fateful night the island hosted 12 Native Americans (2 adult men, 3 adult women, and 7 children) and 3 captive Colonists (2 adult women and 1 teenage boy). Sometime during the night the 3 Colonists awoke and killed 4 Native American adults and 6 Native American children. One adult Native American woman and 1 child escaped with their lives. The 3 Colonists, Hannah Duston, Mary Neff, and Samuel Leonardson took a birch-bark canoe along with 10 scalps collected from those they'd killed and headed downriver on the Merrimack...
The 3 canoeists would follow the Merrimack River some 60 miles or so down to refuge in Haverhill, MA where the 2 adult women had been taken captive several weeks earlier on March 15, 1697.
The story of Hannah Duston has had numerous versions over the ensuing years, and we may never know what really happened on that night. Most of the accounts agree on the basic facts stated above. One thing I do know for sure is that I would never want to spend the night on this island.
Upon leaving the island I exited the Contoocook and paddled up the Merrimack to the Muchyedo Banks...
These banks rise up some 60 to 80 feet above the river...
Intrigued by the name I thought, at first, "Muchyedo" was a Native American word. However, my search ultimately brought me to an account by Mark Stevens in a Canterbury Church July-August 2017 newsletter and subsequently to Genealogy of the Corser Family in America where the story of how the banks got the name "Muchyedo" is told.
According to legend a Native American, Pawgemucket, stole a settler's "stylish, ancient, velveteen go-to-meeting britches from the settler's kitchen. Pursued by an angry mob Pawgemucket darted across the meadow to the Merrimack River "like a wild horse", then dove into the river and swam across "like a beaver" to the steep banks on the Canterbury side, where he then scrambled up the 80 foot high banks "like a squirrel". At the top of the bank he waved the britches over his head and taunted his pursuers to come and get them. Later Pawgemucket was asked how he managed to climb the steep and slippery loose banks. His reply was brief and to the point: "Much ye do" to climb those banks. Other variations of the legend suggest it was a sack of potatoes rather than britches. Either way, it sounds perfectly reasonable to me.
Continuing upriver I passed the remains of an old panel truck...
My route...
On Monday I launched from Gerrish (or North Boscawen)...
Heading upriver I encountered a riffle after about a mile. Working through it allowed an additional 3 miles of paddling alongside the old Northern Railroad right of way (now a rail trail) before reaching Webster Place at an intervale. According to The History of Salisbury NH from Date of Settlement to Present Time 1890 by John J. Dearborn not far from the Webster Place cemetery Salisbury Fort was built between 1746 and 1780. During the French and Indian Wars it was the northern most fort on the Merrimack River.
Above Webster Place and Wise's Ferry I reached a 6-acre island shown as Rachel Ingham Island on current Google maps...
Across from the island's east side is the Franklin Wastewater Treatment Facility...
This island, about 2 miles below the Merrimack River's starting point at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers, became my turnaround point. The ride downriver to Gerrish was a swift one going with the current...
As a life-long railfan I found plenty of railroad related stuff such as the old Gerrish Depot...
A nearby milepost...
I found lodging in nearby Tilton where I also stumbled upon a kind of "caboose heaven"...
Enjoyed my time in Penacook, Boscawen, Franklin, and Tilton. All beautiful towns and villages I'd not previously visited. Glad I did....before winter settles in.
Oh, one more thing...some mostly plastic trash plucked from the Merrimack along the way...
