North River Pontoon Boat Cruise

Kezia leads a North River Pontoon Boat Tour. Photo by Greg Derr.

June 9 - Kezia arranged for a historical cruise for this Sunday afternoon by way of the North & South Rivers Watershed Association. There were nine of us on board. Mainly the tour was about the 24 shipyards that built wooden ships from the 1645 -1871. We took off from Mary's that is now called Roht Marine. Their restaurant was buzzing. The river was loaded with boats from The Spit and as far west as you could see or sea.

My wife abandoned me for Colorado, so Kezia invited me along to fill my time.

There were over 1,000 ships launched. One was the Columbia that gave its name to a river in Oregon. Another was the Beaver. In 1773 Sam Adams and a bunch of his friends threw its load of tea from England into Boston Harbor. Some were built for the whalers in Nantucket and New Bedford. There was even mention of Tom Egan's favorite war, the King Philip's War, that affected Scituate, Norwell, Rehoboth, Deerfield and Medfield. It ended in Rhode Island. King Philip was the son of Massasoit and had a regal bearing, so the Pilgrims made fun of him and called him King Philp. His Wampanoag name was Metacomet. But you knew that.

It took 57 acres of trees and 2,000 oak trees to build one ship. This factoid is from Nathaniel Philbrick's book The Hurricane's Eye.

Today was the most beautiful day we have had yet this year. Kezia told me to bring warm clothes but they were not needed. I brought a drink to hydrate me in a special container. And NO, wise ass person, it was not Coca Cola laced with Pussers Rum from Tortola.

Captain Bill has a long history with boat tours that handle five hundred people in Boston Harbour so the North River was not a big challenge for him. We were cruising right along. We stopped once to pick up a floating plastic bottle with a swimming pool skimmer. Nice touch.

Our tour director mentioned that in the 1600s to 1800s rivers were the way people got around. No one thought about 128 or Route 3 until 1957.

The above paragraph jogged my memory of building an indoor pool on the river in 1976 and being held up by archaeologists who were sifting through the sand and gravel. I asked what they were doing and one of them explained that 5,000 years ago the Wampanoag camped on the north side, built their fires, and kept the southern sun on their faces. I said, "Wow, 500 years!" He said, "No, dummy. 5,000 years." He shoveled one shovel full of sand into a screen and there were seven arrowheads in the screen. I have a spearhead that is 8,300 years old. Whoa!  Good spelling word arcilojist whatever.

The house they discovered while extending the airport in Marshfield ten years ago turned up 11,000 artifacts. Some of them are 8,000 years old. Four jets are housed in Marshfield. You can fly by yourself to Chicago for only $20,000. And that is the truth.

Along for the ride was photographer Greg Derr from The Quincy Patriot Ledger. He is also a birder. He has actually banded owls and osprey. He says osprey stink. One of the screech owls he banded at Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary ended up in Montana. The osprey stand just west of the Route 3A bridge is named after its residents. Ozzie & Harriet Osprey. Old people, please explain this connection to the younger folk who don’t remember the 1950-60 TV show. First episode on TV: 1952. It pushed family values, whatever that means.

Kezia did a perfect job with props and notes. She was not stumped, not even once, by the many questions asked her. Her favorite place on the river is Couch Beach next to Blueberry Island. It is kind of obvious. Yes we talked about the book The Red House, of course. That is the oldest continually lived in house in New England. One of the daughters who grew up there in Two Mile wrote it.

Wish you were there.  I am sure that there will be an article with photos in the Ledger, so save it for us por favor.

To register for a Pontoon Boat tour (Kezia only leads a few per year, but NSRWA runs the trips every weekend), visit https://www.nsrwa.org/events/?customize_changeset_uuid=

Article from the Ledger:
https://www.patriotledger.com/entertainmentlife/20190629/back-in-time-with-north-river-pontoon-perspective?fbclid=IwAR0Yx7TUMyqWeo1Zz5Xepzap8Oqigel-3TxToQqnfBr6CoHf3u9gLGKM9nQ