Pawtuckaway State Park is a preserve in New Hampshire, United States. It is one of the largest

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

s in southeastern New HampshireNew Hampshire GRANIT database
and is named for

Pawtuckaway Lake __NOTOC__ Pawtuckaway Lake (official name Pawtuckaway Pond) is a reservoir in Rockingham County in southeastern New Hampshire, United States, in the town of Nottingham. The lake is located in the Piscataqua River drainage basin. The lake present ...

and the Pawtuckaway Mountains. The park extends from the west shore of the lake to the west side of the mountains.

Geology

The Pawtuckaway Mountains are a small, rocky, circular range that form the outline of an ancient volcanic

ring dike A ring dike or ring dyke is an intrusive igneous body that is circular, oval or arcuate in plan and has steep contacts. While the widths of ring dikes differ, they can be up to several thousand meters. The most commonly accepted method of ring dik ...

dating from 130 to 110 million years ago (

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of th ...

). The ring dike, first completely mapped in 1944, is a smaller and more accessible example of the same kind of geological process that formed the

Ossipee Mountains The Ossipee Mountains are a small mountain range in the New England state of New Hampshire, United States. The remains of an ancient volcanic ring dike,Hall, Anthony, ''Igneous Petrology,'' Longman, 1987 p.75 - 76 they lie north of Lake Winnipesa ...

to the north. The inner ring is roughly one mile in diameter, while the outer is measured at almost two miles.

Earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

s occurred in the vicinity of the ring dike in the summer and fall of 1845. Known as the Deerfield explosions, they were described as subterranean noises "often as loud as the report of a 12 pounder cannon when heard at a distance of half a mile" but without echoes. They were the subject of much speculation at the time.

Environment

The park lies within the

Northeastern coastal forests The Northeastern coastal forests are a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of the northeast and middle Atlantic region of the United States. The ecoregion covers an area of 34,630 sq miles (89,691 km2) encompassing the Piedmont a ...

ecoregion An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of l ...

Recreation

The park has of hiking trails. Trails lead to the approximately summits of North and South Pawtuckaway mountains and connect the ring dike area to the lake. Other hiking trails lead to ponds, boulder fields, and views of the lake. Some of the hiking trails are used in the winter as snowmobile routes. The Pawtuckaway ring dike includes a boulder field of interest to

bouldering Bouldering is a form of free climbing that is performed on small rock formations or artificial rock walls without the use of ropes or harnesses. While bouldering can be done without any equipment, most climbers use climbing shoes to help sec ...

climbers, and the park is a popular destination for

geocaching Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", at specific l ...

. The lake is a water body with numerous islands and coves and is a popular boating, fishing, and swimming destination. Since

orienteering Orienteering is a group of sports that require navigational skills using a map and compass to navigate from point to point in diverse and usually unfamiliar terrain whilst moving at speed. Participants are given a topographical map, usually a s ...

enthusiasts made an

orienteering map An orienteering map is a map specially prepared for use in orienteering events. It is a large-scale topographic map with extra markings to help the participant navigate through the course. These maps are much more detailed than general-purpose top ...

of the park in 1992, the park has become a venue for major

meets, including

foot orienteering Foot orienteering (usually referred to as simply Orienteering or FootO for short) is the oldest formal orienteering sport, and the one with the most "starts" per year. Usually, a FootO is a timed race in which participants start at staggered in ...

and canoe orienteering. The venue is shared by several orienteering clubs in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, including Cambridge Sports Union, New England Orienteering Club, an
Up North Orienteers
Park amenities include 5 cabins, 195

campsite A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight using te ...

s, a boat launch, a swimming beach, camp store, ball field, playground, bathhouse, shelters, picnic tables, and canoe, paddleboard, and kayak rentals.

History

The area was originally composed of many

brooks Brooks may refer to: Places ;Antarctica *Cape Brooks ;Canada *Brooks, Alberta ;United States * Brooks, Alabama * Brooks, Arkansas *Brooks, California *Brooks, Georgia * Brooks, Iowa * Brooks, Kentucky * Brooks, Maine * Brooks Township, Michigan ...

which collected in low spots and formed small ponds, such as what was then known as Pawtuckaway Pond. Some of the brooks that ran through the area eventually ran into the Pawtuckaway River. Both the North River and the Pawtuckaway River then ran into the

Lamprey River The Lamprey River is a river in southeastern New Hampshire, the United States. It rises in Meadow Lake in Northwood, and flows south, then generally east through Raymond, Epping, Lee, Durham and finally Newmarket. Here, it meets Great Bay, ...

. The construction of two colonial sawmills marked the beginning of enlarging the small ponds. On the north end, in 1729 a sawmill enlarged Pawtuckaway Pond. On the south end, in 1732 another sawmill enlarged Dolloff Pond. Beginning in 1825 the Newmarket Manufacturing Company began to acquire land in the area for the construction of a reservoir to supply a consistent source of water power to its

textile mill Textile Manufacturing or Textile Engineering is a major industry. It is largely based on the conversion of fibre into yarn, then yarn into fabric. These are then dyed or printed, fabricated into cloth which is then converted into useful goods ...

in nearby Newmarket, downstream from the lake. In 1836 two dams and several dikes were constructed that changed the features and character of the two ponds, causing their waters to merge except when the water levels were drawn down. Eventually, steam power replaced water power, and gradually less water was drained from the lake to generate power. As water levels rose over time, Dolloff Pond and Pawtuckaway Pond merged into a single body of water. When the Newmarket Manufacturing Company fell on hard times in the early 1920s, it closed its mill in Newmarket. Its interests in the lake eventually passed into the hands of the New Hampshire Electric Company, which outfitted the dams with generators for

hydroelectric power Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

. Ultimately, the production of electricity became unprofitable and in December 1955 NH Electric deeded the lake, its islands, its adjacent land, two dams, the dikes, and the water rights to the State of New Hampshire."A plan for the development of the state property at Pawtuckaway Lake." August 1958, p. 1 https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112089645656&view=1up&seq=9 In 1958 Dolloff Pond was officially considered merged into Pawtuckaway Pond, and the level of the pond is now managed for recreational and environmental uses.

References

External links

Pawtuckaway State Park
New Hampshire Division of Parks and Recreation
Visiting New Hampshire's Biodiversity: Pawtuckaway State Park
New Hampshire Division of Forests and Lands {{authority control State parks of New Hampshire Rock formations of New Hampshire IUCN Category V Parks in Rockingham County, New Hampshire Volcanism of New Hampshire Landforms of Rockingham County, New Hampshire Nottingham, New Hampshire Deerfield, New Hampshire