Watershed - Geography - The River and Watershed

The River and Its Watershed
Many Native American Indian tribes once occupied the watershed and gave the river a number of different names. The most well known Indian name is merruasquamack, which means "swift water place," and is believed to have originally applied to the portion of the river between Garvin’s Falls in Bow, NH and Pawtucket Falls in Lowell, MA. Today, the river is known as the Merrimack.

The Merrimack River, which passes through central and southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts, is a vital natural resource sustaining plants, wildlife, and humans.

The Merrimack River is formed by the confluence of the Pemigewasset River, which originates from Profile Lake at the Old Man of the Mountains in Franconia Notch, NH, and the Winnipesaukee River, which has its source in a lake of the same name.

The Merrimack mainstem is formed by the marriage of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee Rivers in Franklin, NH where it flows 115 miles to its meeting with the Atlantic Ocean in Newburyport, MA.

In total, the Merrimack River stretches some 180 miles. The 75% of the watershed located in New Hampshire contains most of the state's lakes and ponds.

The Merrimack River watershed was first surveyed by Goodman Woodward in 1638 and is the fourth largest watershed in New England.

A watershed is the land area from which surface runoff and groundwater flows into a particular river, lake, stream, pond, or other body of water.

It occupies 5,010 square miles and is comprised of 203 communities ranging from rural towns such as Woodstock, NH and Newbury, MA to the industrial cities of Manchester, NH, Lowell, and Lawrence, MA.