Dover400, a committee of residents organizing Dover’s 400th Anniversary, recently announced it will host a historical lecture series chronicling Dover’s significant past, starting in January 2021 and continuing every month throughout 2021. Each presentation will be held at 7 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month starting on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Initially, the series will be virtual lectures.

The first session will pay tribute to the Native people who occupied our region prior to colonization by white settlers. Dover resident and Native American Kathleen Blake will introduce the series with a Land Acknowledgement: a formal statement that recognizes Indigenous Peoples as traditional stewards of this land and respects the enduring relationship that exists between Indigenous Peoples and their traditional territories.
Blake is an alumna of UNH and Plymouth State University. She is an indigenous mother and grandmother, as well as a retired environmental and biological sciences teacher and school administrator. She is the current chair of the NH Commission on Native American Affairs, an affiliate member of the UNH Indigenous Studies Minor Program, and a member of the Indigenous New Hampshire Collective Collaborative.

Immediately following Blake’s introduction, David Miller will present “Indigenous People of the Piscataqua Watershed” and share his extensive research which has uncovered many of the Wabanaki/Abenaki lifeways. Miller will explore what he calls the “Great Bay Paradise” that existed in up to 20 Native villages bordering the rivers of our region. Attendees will learn about both the proven data, garnered through maps and early documents, and also hear some intriguing speculation regarding the many still-unknown facts about early Native people.

Miller is a former Social Studies teacher specializing in American Intellectual History, a curriculum developer, and K-12 school principal. After retirement, he was President of the Rochester Historical Society for 10 years. Miller is currently finalizing a Social Studies curriculum component: a 50-page “Chronology of the History of Indigenous People of New Hampshire from the Paleoindian period to Today” with accompanying research materials.

*Recording link to view this program which was recorded. https://dovernh.viebit.com/player.php?hash=9JcVOHukN1MW