Amoskeag Falls

Amoskeag Falls on the Merrimack River in Manchester, New Hampshire, drops about 50 feet in a quarter mile and has long shaped movement, settlement, and industry there. Known from the Pennacook word Namoskeag, or “good fishing place,” it was an important Native fishing ground and habitation area by 1634. In 1807 Samuel Blodgett began a canal and lock system to bypass the falls, opening the site to development. The river’s drop was later adapted into a power canal that drove Manchester’s industrial growth, especially through the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company. Even after the mills closed in 1935, the falls remained central to the city’s identity.

Manchester, New Hampshire · United States