Join the Rowley Public Library virtually on Wed., April 21 at 7pm. Local author and journalist Dyke Hendrickson will discuss his new book, Merrimack: The Resilient River, An Illustrated Narrative of the Most Historic River in New England, in this Zoom webinar. Visit the calendar for more information and to register. Registration is required.
This well-researched book highlights the dramatic life of the Merrimack River. The 117-mile river runs from central New Hampshire to Newburyport, where it meets the Atlantic. Here the Coast Guard was born. The Industrial Revolution was launched in the riverside mills of Lowell, and Manchester, NH, and the first successful labor action took place in Lawrence. Thousands of immigrants worked in mills along the Merrimack, and this book tells their riveting stories. The science of clean drinking water was also developed in Lawrence. In the 70s, the once-filthy “Merrimuck” was cleaned up to serve again as one of the most popular waterways in New England. And the Merrimack continues to be an essential resource today, serving as the source of drinking water for a half-million people. You may have seen part of the Merrimack River, but this unique book provides info and images about all sectors of this great waterway.
Author Dyke Hendrickson is the outreach historian for the Merrimack River Watershed Council. He graduated from Franklin and Marshall College with a degree in history, and he did graduate work at the University of Maine, Orono. He is a former writer and/or editor with the Portland Press Herald, the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the Boston Herald and The Daily News in Newburyport.
