Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in Massachusetts. Along with Wachusett Reservoir, it is the primary water supply for Boston, to the east, and 40 other cities and towns in Greater Boston. The Quabbin also supplies water to three towns west of the reservoir and serves as a backup supply for three others. By 1989, it supplied water for 2.5 million people, about 40% of the state's population at the time. He had previously been chief engineer for the building of the Scituate Reservoir in Rhode Island.

A 1922 study officially endorsed the Swift River Valley as the next extension of the water system and created the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), now the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), to oversee the construction and maintain the system after its completion. In 1926, the Ware River Act was passed, starting construction on the first stage of the project, a 12-mile long tunnel connecting Wachusett Reservoir with the Ware River. Specifically, the Swift River needed to maintain a 20 million gallon per day flow downriver from the dam.

Towns disincorporated

The Quabbin's creation required the flooding, and thus the disincorporation, of four towns in April 1938: Dana (located in Worcester County), Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott (all located in Hampshire County). The land remaining from the disincorporated towns was added to surrounding municipalities, including Belchertown, Pelham, New Salem, Petersham, Hardwick and Ware. One additional town on the reservoir is Shutesbury, in Franklin County. Because of New Salem's annexation of the Prescott Peninsula, a large wedge of land shifted from Hampshire County to Franklin County. Today, the majority of the reservoir lies in either New Salem or Petersham.

Of the land used to make the dam, about 60,000 acres were purchased and the rest was seized by eminent domain in 1938. The town of Dana voted to voluntarily give up their land to the project. Around 2,500 residents lost their homes as part of the flooding.

In addition, thirty-six miles of the Boston and Albany Railroad's Athol Branch, the so-called "Rabbit Line", were abandoned (originally the Springfield, Athol and Northeastern Railroad).

More complete information regarding access rules and maps of Quabbin can be found on DCR's official public access website.

Natural resources and forest management

This large block of forested land supports a great diversity of wildlife, and has been the focus for the re-establishment of several species in Massachusetts. Bald eagles, loons, moose, deer, coyotes, black bears, foxes, and bobcats share the habitat, among others. A proposed plan to establish a colony of endangered timber rattlesnakes to Mount Zion Island on the Quabbin was suspended indefinitely in 2017 after public opposition.

  • H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Colour Out of Space" is set in the valley before it was flooded for the reservoir. His fictional town of Dunwich in "The Dunwich Horror", written in 1928, is partially based on the town of Greenwich (before reservoir plans were made).
  • William Weld's novel Stillwater is set in the valley while the reservoir is under construction. Weld relocates the already fictional Massachusetts town of Ripton, MA from the Berkshires to the Quabbin as a fifth flooded town.
  • Both the film Dreamcatcher and the Stephen King novel upon which it was based have scenes set at the Quabbin Reservoir.
  • In Jane Langton's mystery novel Emily Dickinson Is Dead, the drowned villages and the reservoir have a dark role to play.
  • Jane Yolen's picture book Letting Swift River Go is about the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir from the perspective of a young girl who grew up in the valley.
  • During his 2020 Massachusetts Democratic primary campaign for U.S. Senate, former U.S. Representative Joe Kennedy III accused his rival, Sen. Ed Markey, of ignoring the towns of Dana, Prescott, and Enfield, which were disincorporated more than eighty years earlier.
  • The Puma Blues, a black and white comic book series by Stephen Murphy and Michael Zulli, takes place in an alternate early 21st century and involves a colony of flying manta rays living within the freshwater reservoir.
  • Heather Graham Pozzessere's book Dark Rites, from her Krewe of Hunters series, takes place largely around the reservoir.
  • Derek B. Miller's book How to Find Your Way in the Dark includes mention of the flooding that eliminated the drowned villages.
  • In the film Mother/Android, the Quabbin Reservoir is mentioned several times as the characters navigate through a post-apocalyptic Massachusetts.

See also

  • Nichewaug, Massachusetts
  • Quabbin Valley
  • Scituate Reservoir—A reservoir that supplies water to a large portion of neighboring Rhode Island

References

Further reading

  • Conuel, Thomas (1990). Quabbin: The Accidental Wilderness. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press. . .
  • Kelkowski, Ed (2001). Under Quabbin: The Search for the Lost Towns. WGBY. DVD 974.423. .
  • Greene, J. R. (1981). The Creation of Quabbin Reservoir: The Death of the Swift River Valley. Athol, MA: The Transcript Press.
  • Greene, J. R. (2010). From Valley to Quabbin 1938–1946. Athol, MA: Athol Press. .
  • Peirce, Elizabeth (2003). The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valley. Charleston, S.C.: Arcadia. . .
  • Tougias, Michael (2002). Quabbin: A History and Explorer's Guide. Yarmouth Port, MA: On Cape Publications. .
  • Quabbin Reservoir levels
  • Haunting the Quabbin: Inside Out—WBUR-FM documentary about the creation of the Quabbin Reservoir
  • Friends of Quabbin, Inc.—A non-profit organization devoted to increasing awareness of the Quabbin Reservoir; the website contains information on the reservoir and the surrounding reservation
  • Map of the Proposed Quabbin Reservoir—A map showing the Swift River Valley as of 1922, before the construction of the reservoir (from the State Library of Massachusetts)
  • Ecology of Quabbin Reservoir
  • Quabbin Reservoir Depth Map