Programs & Calendar
The Captain Edward H. Adams, a replica of the flat-bottomed sailing barges that once carried cargo up and down our tidal rivers, now provides a unique educational platform to engage learners of all ages. The nonprofit Gundalow Company is excited to offer maritime and environmental educational programs for students and the public on board the Captain Adams as well as in local schools, engaging an audience of approximately 15,000 per year.
During the winter our interactive classroom program introduces the Piscataqua Region and the role of gundalows in local history while connecting students with their environment and maritime heritage. This can be used alone to enhance curriculum or as a pre-visit for schools planning a dockside visit to the gundalow.
In the spring we work with other local organizations to offer dockside learning experiences on board the Captain Adams. While locations vary each year the season always begins with programs at the John Hancock Wharf on the York River, in collaboration with the Museums of Old York. Other spring locations - visited on a rotating basis – have included Old Berwick Historical Society’s Counting House Museum or Historic New England’s Hamilton House on the Salmon Falls River; Traip Academy/Kittery Town Landing on the Piscataqua; the Children’s Museum of NH on the Cochecho River; and Little Harbor School along the Piscataqua’s back channels.
 In June the gundalow moves to its summer berth at Prescott Park in Portsmouth for dockside school programs with Strawbery Banke, and we’ve also partnered with Blue Ocean Society and the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company. In July and August the gundalow typically visits several riverfront towns in the Piscataqua Region, providing inquiry-based programs to camp groups, teen groups, and the general public.
And every autumn the gundalow travels to the Great Bay Discovery Center at Sandy Point for seven weeks of collaborative school programs based on the cultural history of the estuary.
Programs offered by the nonprofit Gundalow Company are designed to spark interest in a vital and unique aspect of New Hampshire’s and Maine’s heritage --the working waterfront. We strive to transport people to a compelling place and time and intrigue them with the relationship between the economic development, once abundant natural resources, and contemporary coastal issues in the Piscataqua region.
Boarding the gundalow at historically significant sites - - such as the eighteenth- century John Hancock Warehouse on the York River, the Hamilton House on the Salmon Falls River, the Sheafe Warehouse at Prescott Park adjacent to Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, or at Adams Point in Durham - - immerses visitors in a long-lost world that is intertwined with today’s imperiled waterfronts.
Moving the gundalow to historic landings provides both students and adults a unique perspective of the connections between maritime, cultural, and economic history as well as the connections between human impact and the long-term health of the waterways linked to the Piscataqua River and the York River. We are working to inspire stewardship and to connect people of all ages with the past, present, and future of waterfront communities in coastal New Hampshire and Southern Maine.
2009 Calendar
Summer Activities:
River Rats Return!
Saturday Science on the Gundalow
For ages 9-12
Saturdays, June 20, 27, July 11, 18 from 11:00-12:30 -
$5 per week
Also offered 3 week-day mornings: July 7, 8, & 9 from 9:00-12:00 - $10 per session, $25 for all 3
And one special session on the Oyster River in Durham, scheduled for Saturday, July 25
Join our crew for special FUN mornings filled with hands-on activities along the Piscataqua waterfront and on the gundalow docked at Prescott Park. Experience a different adventure each time, including plankton tows, tide pool explorations, and scavenger hunts. Get your hands wet (and maybe even your feet) as you discover new things! Advance registration is required. Please contact us for more information and registration: education@gundalow.org or 603.433.9505
Summer Camps
All Ages
Customized programs as scheduled
The gundalow provides a unique dockside platform for summer-camp field trips! Contact us to arrange an experience filled with hands-on activities (setting the sail, climbing through the bilge, hauling lines, singing sea chanties, testing water quality, tying knots, and more). For a full day of fun bring lunches and combine your gundalow visit with another adventure. We’ll help you set up a tide pool exploration, a beach or river clean-up, a touch tank experience, a walking tour, a beach trip, or a visit to a local museum or nature center.
Educational Opportunities for all ages:
The Piscataqua Gundalow Captain Edward H. Adams is open for dockside tours throughout the Piscataqua Region: Wednesdays from 2:00-7:00, Saturdays from 1:00-5:00, other times as arranged. Programs for youth and adult groups are available by reservation.
We also collaborate with local organizations each season to offer several special events as well as a series of Contemporary Coastal Issues programs.
On the gundalow: Bring your students on board the Captain Adams to learn about life in the Piscataqua Region. Our interactive, dockside visits can be customized with various learning stations such as setting the sail, testing water quality, exploring the cabin, checking the weather, studying navigation, and much more. Programs will be available in several locations through-out the spring and autumn seasons. Please contact our educator (603.433.9505 or education@gundalow.org) for 2009 dates and locations.
In the classroom: Bring history to life for your class! Contact us to arrange a free classroom experience of hands-on activities such as exploring maps, creating a timeline, and constructing half-hull gundalow models. This outreach program - - made possible by a grant from the New Hampshire Coastal Program - - is available November through May. To schedule please contact our educator at education@gundalow.org or 603.433.9505
2009 EVENTS
Celebrate the Cocheco River Saturday, May 23 1:00-4:00 pm
Onboard the gundalow and in Henry Law Park in downtown Dover. Family concert with Sammie Haynes will begin at 1:00, followed by gundalow tours, hands-on activities, and demonstrations. The Children’s Museum will be open from 10:00-5:00.
Celebrate the Piscataqua River Saturday, June 6 1:00-6:00 pm
This Piscataqua Waterfront Festival is a collaboration with the Moffatt-Ladd House & Garden in Portsmouth. Tours of the gundalow, house, and maritime warehouse, along with demonstrations, hands-on activities, and displays on the Ceres Street waterfront and on the grounds of the Moffatt-Ladd House. “Songs of Old New England” a concert with Jeff Warner sponsored by the NH Humanities Council, will begin in the Maritime Warehouse of the Moffatt-Ladd House at 5:00.
Birds, Beasties and Boats Exhibit
Opening June 12th Birds, Beasties and Boats: The Legacy of Adams Point at the Discover Portsmouth Center, 10 Middle St.
Captain Edward Adams and his son Cass of Adams Point in Durham created a folk art legacy in wood. They built and sailed the last gundalow on the Piscataqua and, worried about water pollution and the destruction of natural habitat, whittled not only ship models but carved birds, fish and other creatures of the local environment. Adam’s widow gave nearly 200 pieces of their folk art to the city in 1966. Shown at the Sheafe warehouse folk art museum for some twenty years, they have been packed away ever since. This Discover Portsmouth exhibit is presented in collaboration with The Gundalow Company, whose ship “The Captain Edward Adams”" offers environmental education. The exhibit will show the history of the Piscataqua gundalow, Adams' vessels and other ship models, Bellamy eagles, dozens of birds and other fauna carved and painted by the Adams family.
Gundalow Company's Annual Meeting
Tuesday, July 14 beginning at 6:00 pm at the Discover Portsmouth Center, 10 Middle Street. All Friends of the Gundalow, members, and the public are invited to hear what we've accomplished. The Center's current exhibit "Birds, Beasties, and Boats: the Legacy of Adams Point" will be open for viewing.
Gundalow and the Tall Ships August 7-9 Hours vary daily
Visit the Piscataqua Gundalow along with the tall ships at the NH State Pier on Market Street in Portsmouth. Tours, music, and demonstrations.
Contact the Education Director at
the Gundalow Company office for
reservations, questions, or schedule confirmation. All programs
and events may be cancelled due to bad weather.
top
|
