The first white person to settle in the area was Ambrose Gibbons. He sailed up the Salmon Falls River on the Warwick on June 1, 1630. He and other men had formed a company called the Laconia Company, which had many goals, including mining ore and salt, establishing vineyards, and finding a waterway to the Great Lakes. The gigantic trees were chopped down and floated down the river and over to Portsmouth. They were called the king's pines because they were used as masts for the king's ships. With the throngs of people arriving in early South Berwick, the wildlife slowly disappeared. The late 1600's brought conflict to South Berwick. During King Phillip's War in 1675, Native Americans and colonists fought each other. King Phillip was a Native American. Most white homes were burned by 1690, including the Humphrey Chadbourne House, which has been an archeological dig site during the past few years.