Central School

Central School's Hike Through History:

Water, Transportation, Local Economy and Ecology

May 18, 2001

For at least 350 years there has been constant settlement in this place we call South Berwick. When we consider the earlier presence of the American native people, we realize that people have been living on this spot for at least 8,000 years. Why have people chosen this particular place? People settled here because of an unlimited supply of fresh water, proximity to good-sized rivers, and access to the ocean. Good transportation systems have supported town businesses. This year's hike will focus on South Berwick's unique relationship with water, its transportation systems and related industries.

Loop 1

Stop 1- Antique Bicycles on Central School Blacktop. Zip Zamarchi demonstrates his bicycle collection. In the mid-1800s, bicycles became an important means of personal transportation. No longer did a man have to walk, or saddle up the horse to ride into town. He could simply hop on his bicycle. 

Stop 2 Conway Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad at Becker's House. From around 1845 to 1952, train tracks lay where 236 now is located. The South Berwick railroad station was located at this spot. Trains stopped here daily, carrying ice, farm produce, wood products, mail and passengers between Boston and Portland.

Ice was a very product before the invention of electric refrigerators. Ice would be cut in large blocks from frozen ponds (for instance, Warren's Pond), stored in straw, and shipped by train on a regular basis to Boston and Portland.

In 1956, Route 236 was built on the old train bed. Trucks and passenger cars now do the work formerly done by trains. (Please note: if asked about the stone post at the side of the Becker's property, it is a surveyor's marker &endash there is a brass geodetic seal embedded in the top of the post).

Stop 3 Quamphegan Bridge Park Looking North. The pond is here because of the dam across the river. Long ago, there used to be sawmills located here, and it was called the "mill pond." Logs would be rolled down the hill into the mill pond, to await sawing.

Several years ago, when the dam was being repaired, all the water was let out of the pond. One could see that the original riverbed is much narrower than what is visible today. In the 1600s, before the first dams were built, there was a fowling marsh here. The early settlers would cut marsh hay to use for food for their horses and cattle. The hay was also used to thatch the roofs of their houses. Wild birds, such as swans, ducks and turkeys, came to the marsh, and men shot them for food.

The lowered water also revealed the Willow Walk on the far bank in front of the American Legion Hall. It was a man-made roadway built in the early 1800s, to allow for the hauling of materials from ships anchored on the Rollinsford side of the river below Quamphegan Falls, to the Salmon Falls mills. After the mills no longer received and shipped goods and materials by boat (in 1841, the railroad replaced river shipping), the Willow Walk became a pleasant place for people to stroll &endash like a park. The mill pond will be drained again this summer for the construction of a fish ladder in the dam by the Counting House Museum. The original riverbed and the Willow Walk will again appear before us.

There was a dam constructed at here Quamphegan Falls as early as 1650. It was needed to channel water onto water wheels. The water wheels powered saw mills and gristmills. Later, the Portsmouth Manufacturing Company would take advantage of waterpower from the dam. Today, water from the dam turns the turbines of the power plant next to the Counting House.

Stop 4 Quamphegan Bridge Park Looking West. The highway coming down the hill is the Dover Turnpike, constructed in 1805. It was a toll road, connecting Dover and South Berwick. Improved highways were a new form of transportation, gradually replacing much of the river traffic. Carriages and wagons hauling goods could now do so more quickly because of good new roads.

In 1825, the bridge was festively decorated for the visit of General Lafayette to Maine. When he was barely 20 years old, Lafayette traveled from France to fight with George Washington during the Revolutionary War. By 1825, he was the last surviving hero of the war, and Americans loved him. In that year, he made a grand tour of the country, bringing his son, George Washington Lafayette, with him. On a sunny morning,

June 26, 1825, representatives of the state of Maine and South Berwick welcomed Lafayette at the state line, in the middle of the bridge.

The people of South Berwick had decorated the town with arches stretched over the street. The arches were made of evergreens lashed together to wire (like a Christmas wreath) with wild roses intertwined. The school children had helped make the arches.

When Lafayette left Dover, a messenger on horseback rode from Dover to South Berwick to alert the town. Children from the nearby Great Works schoolhouse and the Landing schoolhouse and Berwick Academy were dressed and ready for the occasion. They marched by twos to the bridge, the girls dressed in white dresses and wearing blue sashes with the words, "Welcome Lafayette" printed upon them. Boys wore their hats decorated with blue bands and the words, "Welcome Lafayette" inscribed upon them. The school children lined both sides of the road and cheered as Lafayette rode up the hill in his carriage.

In the center of town, Lafayette left his carriage and breakfasted at Mrs. Frost's Tavern (the Bible Speaks building downtown). One of the official greeters was William Allen Hayes, lawyer and bank president and former state representative to Congress. He brought with him his two little girls &endash Hetta and Susan. They were personally introduced to General Lafayette. Sixty years later, Susan's childhood memories of this important event were written down by HER daughter, Sophia.

Susan recalled the visit of General Lafayette to a friend from his Revolutionary War days in Boston, Madame Cushing. Madame Cushing lived in a large and beautiful house exactly where Central School is today. Susan remembered her father and Lafayette and Lafayette's son strolling down the hedge trimmed walk to Madame Cushing's front door, being greeted by the gracious elderly woman, and invited inside to have currant wine and plum cake.

Lafayette's visit was a memorable experience for South Berwick and every town in the United States visited by him. He was honored and celebrated at every stop. It was only because of a greatly improved highway system that Americans could turn out in the thousands to thank Lafayette for his assistance in freeing their country nearly 50 years earlier, in the American Revolution.

Stop 5 Front door of CH Museum to Visit Elizabeth Ann Baker Downstairs. Elizabeth Ann Baker stands beside her trunk and tells her story about her gundalow trip to South Berwick in 1819. Elizabeth was hired to work as a choir director at one of our churches.

Stop 6 Side door of CH Museum and Upstairs, to Learn about Gundalows. Mr. Whitehouse will talk to students about gundalows. They were flat-bottomed barges equipped with sails that carried goods and people around the Piscataqua River region.

Gundalows could navigate the shallow waters of the rivers, carrying goods, materials and people to Portsmouth and other towns. Until the late 1800s, the river was the main route of transportation for people who lived here.

Stop 7 Outside CH Museum Next to Power Plant and Overlooking River. The water below this spot is partly salty and partly fresh -- brackish water. One can go from here directly to Portsmouth and the Atlantic Ocean. The rocks below the dam are part of Quamphegan Falls. This location is called the "head of falls" or the "falls line." Boats headed north on the river can travel no further.

Fish also use the river. Alewives and salmon need to return to their spawning grounds in shallow waters further up Salmon Falls River, to lay eggs for the next generation. They cannot leap the dam; they can go no further. Alewives swim up as far as the dam and are trapped. Fisherman have come here for many years to catch alewives. Salmon have been rare in the river, because of industrial pollution. However, salmon are beginning to return to the Salmon Falls River. This summer (2001), the power company is draining the mill pond and installing a fish ladder. Next spring, we may be able to see salmon and alewives leap the falls

The downstream flow of the Salmon Falls River is a source of energy. The dam stops the natural flow, channeling water through large tunnels beneath our feet. The water passes through the turbines which are like windmills, turning round and round on an axis. The turbines generate power as they turn (looking through the windows, one can see the turbines turning). The power is then fed into the power lines leading away from the plant, to be used in our homes and businesses.

Stop 8 Outside CH in Drive Way &endash Science Experiments and View of Turbine (No interpreter).

Stop 9 Lawn of Sewage Treatment Plant to View River (No Interpreter). Boats of all sorts have moved across these waters &endash Indian canoes, small steamboats, rowboats, sailboats and gundalows.

Stop 10 Driveway of the Breed Family on Liberty Street. Looking behind the Breed house, one can see a small stream bubbling its way down the hill. Students may see purple loosestrife turning the hillside a beautiful purple color. It may be beautiful, but loosestrife is an alien plant. It is replacing the cattail, which was frequently used by the native Americans and early settlers. They used cattail "fluff" for insulation in their shoes and moccasins. They used the stalks to weave mats, and cattails also had medicinal uses. Cattails are also natural filters of water.

The stream originates in a spring higher up on the slopes of Powder House Hill. This hill is loaded with springs &endash it's like a fountain of fresh water. Good water from Powder House Hill was a very important reason for native Americans and the English to pick South Berwick for a permanent settlement, and South Berwick's drinking water supply continues to be among the best in New England.

Stop 11 Lawn at Vine and Liberty Streets, to Talk with Master Tate. Liberty Street and Vine Street were part of a series of Indian trails leading from Quamphegan Falls to the open ocean. After English settlement in the mid-1600s, the paths were enlarged and improved to become highways. Until 1956, Vine Street was the major highway to Portsmouth. In the 1700s and 1800s, horses, carriages and wagons were the means of transportation at this intersection. In the 1900s, cars and trucks entered the scene. When train service stopped and the railroad tracks taken up in the 1950s, Route 236 was built. Vine Street no longer was the main road to Portsmouth

Master Tate was a schoolteacher who kept a journal about daily happenings in this area and in Rollinsford. He wrote about houses being constructed, ships built, marriages, deaths, weather, etc.

WATER BREAK AT MARSHWOOD JUNIOR HIGH

Stop 12 Fallen Tree on Wadleigh's Lane. The first major industry in our town, back in the late 1600s and early 1700s, was lumbering and masting. Large trees such as this one were cut in the forests. Tall straight pine and spruce trees, sometimes up to 5 or 6 feet in width and 200 feet tall, were reserved as "mast trees." They were carefully cut and hauled to the river by teams of oxen and transported to Portsmouth. The masts would be loaded on special "mast ships" and taken to England for the English Navy.

Smaller trees would be taken to saw mills and processed into clapboards for house construction. Shingles and barrels were made by hand. Barrels were assembled, then take apart and made into packages. The packages would be loaded onto ships bound for the East Indies, reassembled in the Caribbean, then filled with molasses and rum and shipped back to New England. Barrels were the first packaging industry in our country.

A large tree once grew near this place. It was cut down several years ago. By examining the tree rings, one can tell how old it is by the number of rings. One can also tell by the width of the tree rings if it was a good growing year (wide rings) or a poor one (narrow rings).

Stop 13 Academy Street in Front of Berwick Academy. Education was very important to the settlers of our town. This place was called Berwick in 1791, the year Berwick Academy was established. The small white house at the top of the hill is the 1791 House, the original schoolhouse. Berwick Academy was a high school. After 1825, both male and female students attended school there.

Around 1860, Edwin Furness was a teenager attending Berwick Academy. He kept a journal of his daily routine. Edwin earned extra money by hauling luggage to the train station on Main Street.

The big yellow house was built in the mid-1800s as the private home of John Burleigh. He owned the woolen mill at Great Works. His children attended Berwick Academy when they were older, having to travel only a few steps to attend school. One of his daughters, Elizabeth Burleigh Davidson, became the first woman bank president in New England.

The big stone building is Fogg Memorial. It was built in 1874. The stone for this building was quarried in Punkin Town, a section of town opposite our new high school.

Stones were hauled by oxen to the weighing scales at the mill at Great Works, then up the hill to the construction site. Besides being a private school, Berwick Academy also contained the town library for many years and served as public high school for South Berwick high school students. Many older South Berwick residents have fond memories of attending high school in this building.

The trolley was another means of transportation. Trolley tracks ran right down Academy Street by the Berwick Academy. One could travel to Dover, Kittery, Portsmouth and as far as Boston and Portland by trolley. Mrs. Davidson, the woman bank president, would walk down from her house and board a trolley to take her to her work place, a bank in York.

Stop 14 Snowshoe Collection at Academy Street Inn. Snowshoes were an essential means of travel by foot in winters of long ago. Both the native Americans and English settlers used them. It was necessary to hunt in winter, and without snowshoes, hunting and trapping was impossible. There are many shapes and sizes of snowshoes. They are still popular today.

LUNCH AT CENTRAL SCHOOL

Loop 2

Stop 15 Norton Street at Cumming's Shoe Factory. The shoe factory was built in the late 1800s. There were no waterfalls here to create power -- the shoe factory was steam-powered. Coal was brought in by train and was burned in a huge furnace. Water from nearby springs was pumped into the factory and heated, producing steam that powered the machinery. Shoes were made here as recently as 15 years ago.

The shoe factory building is in the process of being renovated. It is called Cummings Mill Apartments. South Berwick is becoming a "bedroom community." Newcomers very likely will live here but work in such places Portland, Boston and Manchester, using our highway system or the Amtrak railway system that is scheduled to begin sometime this year (2001).

Stop 16 William Cummings Mansion. This house was the built in the early 1900s by the son of the owner of the shoe factory. William inherited the business from his father. The property has many unique and original features.

Stop 17 Sheep in Mrs. Paige's Side Yard. Another important industry in our town in the 1800s was sheep raising. Sheep were raised for wool, which was made into cloth in local woolen mills.

Stop 18 Town Garage Near Site of Cummings Railroad Station. The Cummings Railroad Station used to be located near the town garage. Trains brought leather to South Berwick, and finished shoes were loaded on here and taken to Boston and Portland. Train also brought in coal for steam power.

Stop 19 Railroad Tracks. The Boston and Maine Railroad use these tracks today. Trains have been using this route since 1841. In recent years, only freight has passed over these tracks. Soon, AMTRAK will begin passenger rail service, and South Berwick residents will be able to take the train from Dover to Boston or Portland on a daily basis.

WATER BREAK AT BALL FIELD

Stop 20 Fire Station on Norton Street. At the fire station, one can see an old-time fire engine. This engine was drawn by people or horses.

Stop 21 Inner Yard of the Sarah Orne Jewett House. Sarah Orne Jewett wrote many short stories about life in South Berwick during the late 1800s. However, she frequently traveled out of town, often visiting Boston, as well as several trips to Europe. Sarah also had many friends visit her here in South Berwick. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Willa Cather were among frequent visitors to this house. They all traveled by train.

We have learned a great deal about the unique physical characteristics of our community, and the many forms of transportation that have make it possible for people to live comfortably here. For a community to remain strong, it must have a good healthy environment, and it must have ways for residents to earn a living and support their families. South Berwick meets these requirements. We are indeed fortunate to live in this special place.

Norma Keim

Old Berwick Historical Society

May 2, 2001