Before the earliest English explorer arrived, probably Martin Pring in 1603, generations of native fishermen had valued this land by the Newichawannock—the upper Piscatauqua River now known as the Salmon Falls. Fine forests of oak, maple and chestnut trees stood along the banks, as well as white pines over 200 feet tall with trunks five and six feet across. In 1634, English carpenters under contract with Capt. John Mason's Laconia Company began building sawmills to exploit these forests.
Meet some the 17th century people of old Berwick by using the menu on the right.