This new town was Salisbury, and in 1666 the western part of the town broke off and formed the town of Amesbury. Fifteen years later, in 1635, Newbury was settled, and in 1638 permission was granted by the General Court which governed Massachusetts for a settlement north of the Merrimack River. The Mayflower brought the first group to leave England for the new world in 1620. The origins of English settlement lie in the extreme pressure placed on Protestants in England in the early decades of the 17th century. The name “Merrimack” means “rapid waters” in Algonquian and describes ancient geographic conditions in the lower river valley. The Powwow River and Powwow Hill in downtown Amesbury owe their names to that Indian word which was the Algonquin term for group gatherings and celebrations held upon this hill. Many local names are also derived from the period of Indian occupation. Whittier described Native Americans navigating the river below the falls in canoes of “arrow swiftness.” Indian shell heaps near the present Route 1 highway bridge provide additional evidence of aboriginal occupation and river use in the area near Lowell’s Boat Shop. In his 19th century poem, The Bridal of Penacook, John C. Another Amoskeag site in New Hampshire is one of New England’s premier archaeological sites and was occupied by various native populations from ca. The Amoskeag site near the present Lowell, Massachusetts was historically occupied by the noted chief Passaconaway and his Penacook tribe. Upstream fishing stations were maintained at waterfalls and other sites. The lower Merrimack River Valley was occupied by tribes of Algonquin Indians for hundreds and perhaps thousands of years prior to the mid-17th century.
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