The People and Their River: Exploring a Historic Waterway
Rivers, rather than dividing people, can bring them together, raising a sense of regional consciousness and emphasizing the need for people to become involved in preservation and environmental efforts. Using the York River as an example, students will study the importance of southern Maine estuaries throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. How did it influence settlement patterns? How did it affect the economy of a small town at a local and regional level? Using hands-on activities students will learn about local history and the importance of balancing the needs of the people and the needs of the estuary. A full description of the program, along with the learning standards it is designed to meet, can be downloaded as a PDF here. The programs are alligned with learning standards for Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
Program Description
The program lasts approximately two hours and can accommodate up to three classes at once. Each student engages in 45-minute long stations at both the John Hancock Warehouse and the Gundalow. At each station, students participate in one or two activities.
John Hancock Warehouse
Built in the mid-eighteenth century, this warehouse is the last one in Southern Maine still standing from that period. John Hancock was co-owner of the structure in the late eighteenth century, while the other co-owner was Captain Joseph Tucker, Custom Collector for the district of York. The warehouse is currently interpreted as the eighteenth-century Customs House with an upstairs museum gallery filled with barrels, replicas of old vessels and exotic scents.
Students will be split in two groups and engage in two activities while in this building. On the first floor, they will be introduced to Old York's maritime collection and learn about York's maritime history through objects (20 minutes).
Objective: students will identify two objects used by fishermen in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. On the second floor, students will learn about York's residents who "drew their living from the ocean." Students will be sent on a short scavenger hunt based on the second-floor exhibit (20 minutes).
Objective: students will identify at least three occupations for people living by an estuary. They will draw comparisons with today's occupations.
The Gundalow
Students will board and tour the reproduction 1889 Piscataqua gundalow "Captain Edward H. Adams". Gundalows were a unique vessel type used extensively for the hauling of cargo on the salt water rivers of Southern Maine throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Shallow drafted and lateen sailed, they carried bricks, timber, coal, salt hay and other bulk cargoes from town to town along the coast. The "Capt. Adams" is 70' long, with 1100sq feet of sail. (40 minutes)
Objective: Students will learn about the history of these vessels and their importance in the development of the region's maritime-oriented economy, and then actively explore the vessel and engage in hands-on activities aboard. The broad decks of the gundalow allow students to actually step back to the sights and smells of the 1800s.
Conclusion: Students will gain an understanding of the role the estuaries of our area have played in shaping local settlement, economic and technological development. They will discuss changing human use patterns along the estuaries over the centuries, and realize that we are all still affected, culturally and economically, by the salt water rivers of our area.
Additional Information
The People and their River will be available May 5 ~ May 16, 2008. Classes can stay at the wharf for a picnic lunch after the program is over. We ask for a minimum of 15 students. We require one chaperone for every five students. For safety reasons, no tagalongs (especially younger siblings) are allowed. The program can be adapted for people with disabilities.