Lake Winnipesaukee

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Lake Winnipesaukee
Winnipesaukee Sunset 8-28-2002 (JJH) .jpg
Sunset on Lake Winnipesaukee
Geographical location New Hampshire ( USA )
Drain Winnipesaukee River
Data
Coordinates 43 ° 36 ′  N , 71 ° 20 ′  W Coordinates: 43 ° 36 ′  N , 71 ° 20 ′  W
Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire
Lake Winnipesaukee
Altitude above sea level 153  m
surface 186 km²
Maximum depth 55 m
Template: Infobox Lake / Maintenance / EVIDENCE AREA Template: Infobox Lake / Maintenance / EVIDENCE MAX DEPTH

Lake Winnipesaukee , or Lake Winnipiseogee for older spelling , is a lake in the US state of New Hampshire . It is the largest lake in New Hampshire. It is approximately 41 km long (from north to south) and 16 km wide (from east to west) and has an area of ​​186 km² with a maximum depth of 55 m. The lake contains around 250 islands and several peninsulas extend into it, making its total shoreline around 463 km. The lake is at an altitude of 153 m. ü. M.

It belongs to the counties of Belknap County and Carroll County .

Lake region

Location of Lake Winnipesaukee in the catchment area of ​​the Merrimack River

Lake Winnipesaukee, along with the rest of New Hampshire's “lakeside region”, which also includes Squam Lake and Newfound Lake , is home to countless actors in the summer and offers a wide range of recreational activities both on and off land. There are numerous hiking trails in the surrounding mountains, including the Ossipee Mountains to the east, the Belknap Range to the west, and Red Hill to the north.

In total, there are around 1,300 lakes and ponds in New Hampshire (information from the New Hampshire State Almanac).

The parishes surrounding the lake are, clockwise, starting with the southernmost:

  • Alton
  • Gilford with the Gunstock recreation area, known for its skiing and hiking opportunities.
  • Laconia , located around Paugus Bay, is the most important commercial town on the lake. Laconia also includes Weirs Beach , the largest public bathing area on Lake Winnipesaukee.
  • Meredith , whose picturesque harbor is at the northwest end of the lake.
  • Center Harbor
  • Moultonborough
  • Tuftonboro
  • Wolfeboro , which calls itself "America's oldest summer vacation spot".

history

Prehistory and early history

Islands in frozen Lake Winnipesaukee

During the ice ages , the last of which is called the Wisconsin glaciation, no people could live in the area of ​​Lake Winnipesaukee. The lake is a glacial lake; however, it is unusual here that the last ice age reversed its water flow. Once, draining water from central New Hampshire moved southeast and flowed across what is now Alton Bay towards the Atlantic Ocean . When ice-age deposits blocked this path, the water flowed westward through Paugus Bay into the Winnipesaukee River . Since then, it has flowed westward from the lake and into the Pemigewasset River in Franklin , creating the Merrimack River . This flows south to Massachusetts and there into the Atlantic.

The area of ​​the lake was continuous from the 8th millennium BC. Inhabited. It is located in the archeological district of Weirs-Aquadoctan, with the most important site, Weirs Beach, very close to the lake drain and the Merrimack River. Excavations took place there from 1976 to 1979, in Aquadoctan in 1977. Late Paleo-Indians lived here as the first detectable people, one find could be dated to 9615 ± 225 years BP . Finds from the age of the archaic Indians, especially tool remains made of quartz, are younger . They could be dated to around 9000 BP.

North of the lake, near Tamworth , Hornfels deposits were already mined in late Archaic times. One of the reasons for the early use of the lake were Hornfels rhyolite deposits, a rock from which tools were made in workshops found near Belmont (NH 31-20-5). In two workshop centers different preforms, so-called cores or cores for scrapers , scrapers , drills and blades were made , which were mainly produced between 6000 and 5000 BC. BC originated. A total of around 30,000 artifacts were found . Also hides and wood were probably worked there, so that they were probably permanently inhabited villages. In 1999 similar workshops were discovered at Silver Lake . These workshops supplied the area with finished tools, such as the Merrimack Valley.

Another important site, an emergency excavation site on the west bank of the lake, is located in the Lochmere Archaeological District , the Lodge Site (NH31-6-6). It spans the Middle Archaic period and extends into the late woodland phase. In addition to tools, 145 potsherds from the younger woodland period were found.

Abenaki, colonial times

Abenaki couple in the 18th century

The Indian name "Winnipesaukee" is derived from "Wiwininebesaki", which means "the lake near which there are other lakes and ponds" or simply "lake area". It is also the name of a tribe of the western Abenaki (Sokoki) living there . The western Abenaki lived at the beginning of the 17th century in what is now New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as in the adjacent areas of the then French province of Quebec . To the west they lived in the Champlain Valley, the Green Mountains , the Connecticut River Valley, and the White Mountains , whose adjoining highlands cut the valleys of Lake Winnipesaukee and the Merrimac River to the south . The Winnipesaukee lived primarily in the lake village of Acquadocton, where The Weirs now exist.

Abundant rainfall, very cold and long winters did not make soil cultivation, such as the cultivation of pumpkins, impossible, but the climate reduced the yields so much that hunting and fishing remained the main sources of food.

Accordingly, the Abenaki lived in a mixed forest area rich in game, where, in addition to deciduous trees, hemlocks and white pines grew. Northern deciduous trees and American red spruces grew predominantly on the mountains and mountain slopes , while there were balsam firs , black spruces , larches and white false cypresses in the swamp areas . On large mammals, the Abenaki hunted elk, deer and black bear, but also hares, weasels, squirrels and birds; for the fur trade they also hunted beavers, muskrats , otters, mink , fishing marten , raccoons , foxes and skunks , hunting with snowshoes and sleds in winter. They were not in competition with wolves and bobcats .

Maple trees provided syrup and sugar, the lake fish. For this purpose, the men set up pots, traps, fishing rods and nets. Field work and gardening were women's work, apart from tobacco. The women gathered wild berries, especially blueberries.

The Penacook , who lived further south around Concord , were the first to come into contact with the European colonists. They grew corn, beans, and pumpkins. In this early phase of European settlement, the Penacook belonged to a large confederation named after them. It served to repel the Mi'kmaq in the north and the Mohawk in the west. The Winnipesaukee, after which the lake was named, also belonged to this confederation.

An epidemic of smallpox struck the New England tribes in 1633 and 1634. It spread north to the Abenaki and St. Lawrence tribes and eventually to the Iroquois. Around 1637, the Abenaki received their first rifles from English traders, who in 1638 established a trading post on the Merrimack River with the Pennacook. In 1642 the Western Abenaki allied themselves with the Mahican and their earlier enemies, the Mohawk, against the Montagnais or Innu . Although the Jesuits managed to achieve peace between eastern Abenaki and Innu, conflicts arose with the Mohawk. The Pocumtuc left the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts and moved north, leaving only Missisquoi and Cowasuck in Vermont as the last major villages of the Western Abenaki. In 1668 the Mohawk drove the Pennacook through New Hampshire into southern Maine. The alliance between the English and the Iroquois had forced the Abenaki on the side of the French and their allies. When chief Metacomet or "King Philip" attacked the English colonies in 1675 , most Abenaki were neutral, but at least supported the southern groups, which were most affected by English settlement pressure and land grabbing. The English responded with a punitive expedition, and even the Penobscot and Kennebec , who lived further north, were drawn into the war, which turned into a massacre. After 1676 there were only about 4,000 Indians left in southern New England and the number of adult men in the Merrimack area had collapsed from several thousand to about 300. Many Abenaki had fled to French territory. The fighting between France and England was so ruthless that in 1695 the entire border area was depopulated. A peace agreement was not reached until 1727. Between 1761 and 1774, more and more settlers invaded their former residential area and in 1763 the Pontiac uprising took place , in which Abenaki also took part.

The Winnipesaukee were part of that overarching story. In 1614 there were over 400 members who lived in camps on Alton Bay, at Melvin Village, at Wolfeboro Falls, in Moultonboro Neck, Lochmere, Laconia and Ahquedaukee, Aquadoctan or Aquedaukenash (The Weirs). The latter was not only their winter quarters, but also Indians from the numerous islands of the lake. There they were better protected from the prevailing northwest wind in winter, and there they stored tons of fish for the cold season. The village measured more than 400 by 400 m and lay on the north bank, which flanked the canal. However, the south side was too steep to erect wigwams there.

Several long paths connected their villages. At the confluence of the Winnipesaukee and Pemigewasset Rivers lived Pemigewasset , and on Willow Hill in Franklin a kind of large mortar or primitive mill was found that was used to grind corn. The first English settlers also used this mill in the beginning. By 1680, smallpox had decimated the number of Pemigewasset so far that they settled above Plymouth . One of their main camps was at Profile Falls on the Smith River , and another on the old Bristol to Hill Highway . At Bristol , the Pemigewasset and Pass-aqua-nik trails met the Mascoma trail, which followed the Smith River. The Kancamagus Trail merged with the Pemigewasset trail at Woodstock , and the Asquamchumaukee Trail joined it where their old village had stood at the mouth of the Baker River , just above Plymouth .

In 1696 the few remaining families on Lake Winnipesaukee left their village Aquadoctan, accompanied by two young English prisoners. They joined the Pequaket tribe on the Saco River near today's Fryeburg in Maine.

In October 1743 an Indian named Coaus came to Portsmouth and asked His Excellency the Governor to set up a trading post at Pemigewasset. He also felt it was reasonable or justified to obtain satisfaction for the fact that their country had been settled by English people without asking. When asked how many Indians were demanding their land, he replied that there were only three or four.

In 1765 a mill was built on the abandoned site of Aquadoctan, for the construction of which artefacts from the settlement, especially parts of the eponymous weirs, i.e. the fish weirs, were used. In total, more than 10,000 artifacts were found, which are kept in museums and collections in Concord , Manchester , Hanover and Laconia . However, most of the ceramic pieces were found at Amoskeag Bluff (Smyth Estate) in Manchester. In the year the mill was built, Jacob Eaton began building a home at Pickerel Cove, which he completed the following year. He cut down six acres of trees, save for a row of apple trees that the Indians had planted there. In 1767, Eaton's wife gave birth to the Lake District's first non-Indian child.

Tourism, traffic development, shipping

View of the Lake, Robert D. Wilkie (1828–1903)

Lake Winnipesaukee became a travel destination from the first half of the 19th century, especially for tourists from Boston and New York who avoided the summer heat there.

The Mount Washington , 1920

The Mount Washington took up passenger and parcel service on the lake in the spring of 1871 on behalf of the Boston and Maine Railroad . The ship got its name from the highest mountain in the state of New Hampshire. With a length of 54 m and a width of 15 m, she was a typical North American side wheel steamer and the largest steamer on the lake. The paddle wheels were driven by a single-cylinder steam engine with 450 hp (340 kW) at approx. 26 revolutions per minute. An oscillating in time with the paddle wheels balancers ( walking beam ) high above the upper deck transferred power from the stationary cylinder on the drive axle. This technique existed almost exclusively in the USA.

Contemporaries described the ship as a majestic appearance and affectionately called it "The Mount". The cuisine and service were soon compared to those of the finest restaurants in New York and New Orleans . On December 23, 1939, the ship burned out completely when it caught fire near a burning shed near the shore; the ship was trapped in the ice and could therefore not be pulled out of the danger zone.

With the invention of the propeller, paddle steamers disappeared a little later. Only a few have survived as a tourist attraction to this day, mostly restored and maintained by private organizations.

competition

The data series of the "Ice-Out" between 1860 and 2010

Lake Winnipesaukee is known for its annual ice-out competition, in which participants try to guess the earliest date that Mount Washington (aka The Mount ), a large ship that takes tourists on drives around the lake, can safely leave its port in Saunders Bay and head for four other ports. Since records began in 1851, the lake was “ice-free” on March 29th and May 12th at the latest, with 90 percent of the cases being “ice-free” in April.

Movies

literature

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ This and the following from: David R. Starbuck: The Archeology of New Hampshire. Exploring 10,000 Years in the Granite State , University of New Hampshire Press 2006, p. 59.
  2. ^ David R. Starbuck: The Archeology of New Hampshire. Exploring 10,000 Years in the Granite State , University of New Hampshire Press 2006, p. 65.
  3. ^ Robert Henry Thurston: A History of the Growth of the Steam-engine , 1883, reprinted by Adamant Media Corporation 2001.