Amoskeag

Amoskeag Falls descend over a short stretch of the Merrimack River. The Pennacook name Namoskeag means approximately “good fishing place,” and Indigenous people caught migrating salmon, sturgeon and alewives in its rapids, sometimes using large nets stretched across the river. Settlements stood nearby, including on the high eastern bank overlooking the falls and its abundant fishing grounds.

A 1634 account described Amoskeag as a notable Indigenous habitation. In 1807 Samuel Blodgett began a canal and lock system to let boats pass around the falls. The river drops fifty feet over a quarter mile here, and that water power was later used to drive mills along its banks. The Amoskeag Manufacturing Company became central to the growth of Manchester as a textile town.