Gundalow tours offer new view of Piscataqua

The gundalow Piscataqua is a beautiful, odd thing tucked up against the dock on its namesake river, just off Prescott Park in Portsmouth.

Stumbling across it unwittingly is a bit like discovering a dinosaur — a large, powerful unfamiliar creature that once roamed in great numbers, now a rare model used for education. Though unlike the dinosaur, this relic is alive.

The current gundalow cruises the river that, at its height, held dozens of the flat-bottomed, wooden cargo barges at a time. The Piscataqua is the real thing, touring the waterway three times a day, seven days a week.

The gundalow’s less familiar silhouette, designed specifically for this region, appeared about 1650 and worked the river through the1920s.

Its numbers at its height are a guess, Executive Director Molly Bolster, of the Gundalow Company, says.

“It was so common and so much a part of the landscape they weren’t written about — like a tractor trailer truck is today,” Bolster says. “They were just a part of the landscape.”

Today the son of the river workhorse is a classroom on water. But, whether boarded for relaxation or education, a sail on the gundalow naturally changes people as they look back and see their world from an entirely different view.

“The nuances are hard to get out there in words. It’s the combination of all the sights and sounds and smells …; and the stories the crew shares and the hands-on experience,” Bolster says. “You just come away with a deeper appreciation as to why this area was settled in the first place, and a better feel for our impact on the estuary and watershed. Hopefully, people come away feeling more connected to the past and to stewardship for the future.”

Thousands take part in the company’s numerous opportunities. There are about 300 public trips on the 49-passenger boat and 30 chartered annually. It also offers educational school sails. Its first year it took out 60 schools, the second 90, and this year more than 100.

The Piscataqua offers special series in addition to its usual guided tours, which always include an opportunity to take the wheel or raise the sail.

Wednesdays is the Speakers Series, featuring science and history topics. Most Thursdays (and occasional Sundays) there is live music at sunset with “Music on the Piscataqua.”

The Piscataqua Café Concert Sail docks at the New Castle Cafe, where a concert is staged, and food and beverages are served.

Saturday mornings bring the Family Sail. Children under 13 sail free, and numerous hands-on activities are offered. In addition, there is an up-river sail and, in the opposite direction, a trip through Little Harbor.

Most afternoons the public is welcome to board for a free tour of the ship, tales and interactive activities.

The contemporary gundalow was preceded by the Capt. Edward H. Adams, which never left the dock. It was built and owned by the Piscataqua Gundalow Project, a separate nonprofit, from 1992 to 2002, when it passed ownership to the Strawbery Banke Museum, which offered dockside tours for the next 10 years.

The current Gundalow Company, a nonprofit, formed in 2002, “when the museum announced it was going to let the Adams go,” Bolster says. “When (the company) inherited it …; we were starting at scratch, looking for new ways to tell the story and get kids and people on board.”

Bolster’s gundalow involvement went back to the first nonprofit as a board member. Even then she envisioned a working boat that would bring history to life and serve the waters it sailed.

She was an inaugural company board member, and was named executive director within six months, with that river-worthy ship a goal.

A working boat is the way to make a greater educational impact and promote proper stewardship, Bolster says. “We had a great time with the Adams. Hundreds had done the program on it. But imagine teaching skiing by saying ‘pretend you’re on a mountain.'”

Successful models, such as Pete Seegers’ Hudson River Sloop Clearwater Project, already existed and buoyed her effort.

“Pete had the idea to build the boat to help people understand the history but also use it as a teaching platform to talk water quality, pollution and human impact on the habitat,” Bolster says. “You can talk about it in the classroom, but it’s more powerful to talk about it on the boat — and a boat historical to place.”

The Piscataqua, “a new boat, certified to float,” was built by boat builder Paul Rollins of York, Maine, and hauled into the water the spring of 2012. Today, Matt Glenn captains the vessel.

Officials with the company speak to thousands annually about the rich Piscataqua region, connecting local maritime history with contemporary coastal issues, and stewardship.

“What becomes clear at the end of our activity is, whatever happens on land happens in water,” Bolster says. “There’s a magical transformation when you leave the dock and you’re underway and you see your place from the water. The way to use it as a platform for connecting people to the place is to get out on the river. The history comes alive, and it’s a great way to talk about stewardship for the future.”

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