Lost Towns of the Quabbin Reservoir

"The four lost towns of the Quabbin Reservoir - Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott - are not your typical 'ghost towns.' You won't find dusty streets, old saloons and blowing tumbleweeds here. After all, these ghost towns are underwater. They teem with life, but not the human life that they once supported. The foundations remain, but their former residents have long since settled elsewhere.

"The Quabbin area was settled in the early 1700s, and grew to a population of about 2,700 by 1938. It was well on its way to prosperity, despite hard hits from the Great Depression. But there had been talk of the area's demise for years - since at least 1922. The eastern part of the state needed drinking water, and the government needed a place to put it. The Metropolitan District Water Supply Commission had its eye on the Swift River Valley, and there wasn't much that the residents felt they could do to divert its gaze."

Yankee Magazine recently published an updated version of an article (originally published in 2016) that examined why the lost towns of the Quabbin Reservoir were abandoned and how they came to be under water.

To access the complete article, please visit:

New England Today: New England History: Lost Towns of the Quabbin Reservoir (5 JUL 18)