Quabbin Reservoir ~ Enfield, MA

The Quabbin Reservoir is the now the largest body of water in Massachusetts. However, the area it now occupies once had four small towns and a network of roads and rail tracks running through it - all of which were flooded or displaced by the filling of the area with water. While some public structures, memorials and graves were moved out of the way many still sit today at the bottom of this body of water. Some nearby structures sit above the waterline but were abandoned without the adjacent buildings that sustained their use.

Houses were bulldozed, bodies dug up (except for Native Americans), factories demolished and millions acres of trees were cut down. Six towns: Dana, N. Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, Millington and Prescott were inundated by the waters of the Quabbin Reservoir  and seven other towns were altered. A half mile long dam was built on the Swift River in Belchertown MA, and one of the longest tunnels in the world was constructed to carry the water a hundred miles to the east.

Flooding of the valley started in mid August 1939 and in 1946 the reservior was filled to capacity (412 billion gallons). Nearly 40 square miles were covered with water. The new reservoir was named after a Native American chief of a local tribe. The chief's name was Nani-Quaben. The name, which was given to a hill in Enfield and a lake in Greenwich means well watered place.

Taken about 60 years apart
from the same location on
Great Qabbin Mountain:
Top-bottom: 1927, 1939 & 1989

Countless unnamed streams and brooks feed into the reservoir. When you are on the water you can look down and see the ghostly remains of old foundations and stonewalls built many years ago by the long dead inhabitants of the four lost towns. Some people claim that the Quabbin is haunted and if you've ever been within it's borders after dark you'd find yourself hard pressed to argue with them.   

In all 2,500 people were relocated and pproximately 6,500 graves were relocated to Quabbin Park Cemetery which was established for them in 1938. 

The Quabbin finished filling in 1946. It has no flood control, electrical generation or navigation functions. It was built for one purpose only, to serve the drinking water needs of Boston, 60 miles away.