“We don’t tend to see the area from the water. We tend to see it from the land,” said Barbara Maurer, education director for the Gundalow Company. But that wasn’t always the case. Before the age of automobiles and paved streets, “The rivers were the roads,” Maurer said.

Thus, instead of transporting cargo in massive 18-wheelers barreling down superhighways, industries of yore relied largely on gundalows for their deliveries. The simple, flat-bottomed, wooden sailing boats would transport towering loads of brick or lumber, servicing the Seacoast’s many active brickyards and mills through a network of natural waterways.

“They would carry whatever needed to be carried,” Maurer said. “They’re the equivalent of today’s tractor-trailers.”

On Saturday, May 16, a gundalow loaded with cargo sailed again. The Captain Edward H. Adams picked up a load of 60 rain barrels in York, Maine, and delivered them to the Kittery Town Pier behind Cap’n Simeon’s. There, customers picked them up and took them home for use on their gardens.

The Adams is a replica vessel owned and operated by the Gundalow Company, based in Portsmouth. Completed in 1982, the boat is modeled after gundalows of the mid 1800s. It has long served as a physical reminder of our river-based heritage, but the rain barrel delivery marked the first time the boat had ever actually carried cargo.

Making the Adams functional again is part of the Gundalow Company’s widening vision. In addition to actually carrying cargo, executive director Molly Bolster is using the gundalow to connect area residents to their rivers. A week after the rain barrel delivery in Kittery, the boat was docked on the Cochecho River in Dover’s Henry Law Park, where visitors toured the gundalow and watched as volunteer crew members hoisted its 70-foot spar and released its billowing sail.  

On Saturday, June 6, the Adams will be docked on Ceres Street in Portsmouth for the first ever Piscataqua Waterfront Festival. It’s all part of the Gundalow Company’s 2009 “Celebrate Our Rivers” season, aimed at building appreciation for our vital aquatic resources. The company has partnered with several area organizations to drive that message home.

The rain barrels delivered on May 16 were manufactured by SkyJuice New England, based in York. The 55-gallon recycled barrels catch rain from rooftops, diverting the water from flowing into storm sewers or becoming runoff. The oxygen-rich water can then be used to water gardens or flower beds, or even wash cars.

These attributes make rain barrels integral to the Spruce Creek Association’s storm water project. Runoff from storm water often picks up pollutants like lawn fertilizers, pet waste and oils from roads and deposits them into the watershed. Paved roadways, rooftops and lawns prevent the land from properly absorbing storm water, but using rain barrels at individual homes helps alleviate the problem. 

“If we each do our own little bit, then we can solve the bigger solution,” said Phyllis Ford, of the Spruce Creek Association.
The association partnered with SkyJuice, which offered discounts to customers who purchased rain barrels in advance of the gundalow delivery, ultimately selling around 100 barrels. The association also partnered with the Gundalow Company to transport the barrels, bringing added attention to the goal of protecting rivers.

“It’s a good way to get out the message,” Ford said. “It just makes a nice cross between the events.”

Kittery resident Wendy Whitney picked up two rain barrels at the Town Pier on May 16. She recently had a gutter system installed on her house and intends to funnel all the water from her roof into the barrels. She’ll then run a hose from each barrel’s spigot to water her vegetable garden and flower beds.

“I try to make it all as functional as possible with the least impact,” Whitney said. “I really like the whole idea—make it go around and come around.”

Environmental initiatives were also showcased at the Dover event. Representatives from Great Bay Trout Unlimited were on hand to discuss projects to increase access to the Chochecho River and restore its trout population. Trout Unlimited held a spring cleanup in April along a portion of the Cochecho behind the Measured Progress building on Sixth Street. They also worked with area schools on projects to raise brook trout eggs and release the newly hatched fish into the river.

“We’re trying to get people to understand what they have and give it value,” said Trout Unlimited president Mark Seymour.
Events like the gundalow visit help achieve that mission. Already, Seymour said, rivers like the Cochecho, Oyster and Lamprey have benefited from increased public awareness and less pollution. “I think a lot of attitudes have changed. People aren’t dumping sewage into the watershed,” he said.  

While some guests checked out Trout Unlimited’s educational displays, others strode onboard the Captain Edward H. Adams for firsthand tours, ducking below deck to see the small cabin and crawl space. Like the old gundalows after which it was modeled, the vessel is made almost entirely of wood, right down to its 5,000 trunnels—nails or pegs made of wood.

People began using gundalows in New England in the mid 1600s, and they remained prevalent for more than two centuries. Early gundalows were less accommodating than the Adams, often lacking a cabin or sail. “The early gundalows were literally just shells of wood,” Barbara Maurer said.

But those shells of wood played a vital role through the Industrial Revolution. Bricks would be piled high above the crew members’ heads as they navigated the rivers, transporting materials to mill buildings. Other common freight included salt marsh hay, cloth, coal, granite and lumber.

But the early 20th century brought the demise of gundalows, and now Portsmouth’s accurate replica is the only working gundalow in the region. A reproduction of the 1886 gundalow Fanny M., it took three years to build before launching on June 13, 1982—almost exactly 27 years ago. The Adams serves as an enduring symbol of the Piscataqua region’s history.

Now the Gundalow Company is working on securing funds for a second replica, one that will be built to higher standards so that it can actually carry passengers (guests are only allowed on the Adams while it is tied to a dock). Economic conditions have slowed the project, but Molly Bolster said the company is not giving up.

“We are definitely still committed to the idea of building a new gundalow,” she said. “We need to raise a certain amount of money to get started.”

In the meantime, she plans to continue her campaign of celebrating rivers with the Adams. She also hopes to carry more cargo soon, perhaps even setting up a farmers’ market onboard the Adams with fresh produce delivered from area farms. Involving the historic gundalow in such efforts elevates the intrigue of visiting waterfronts across the Seacoast, she said.
“I think it has the potential to catch on in all these other towns,” Bolster said.