In April 1938, Swift River Valley residents held a farewell ball to mark the demise of the quintessential New England town of Enfield and its three smaller neighbors, Greenwich, Dana, and Prescott. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sacrificed these three towns to build the Quabbin, a massive reservoir of drinking water for residents of Boston. Three prominent residents attended the somber occasion. Marion Andrews Smith was the last surviving member of an important manufacturing family. Willard "Doc" Segur was the valley's beloved country doctor and town leader. And Edwin Henry Howe was Enfield's postmaster and general store proprietor. They helped build their beloved community for decades, only to watch grief-stricken as it was destroyed by 400 billion gallons of water. Author and historian Elena Palladino recounts the story of these communities as seen through eyes of those who lived there until the end.

The Quabbin Reservoir, in central Massachusetts, was created in 1938 to supply the state's growing population with a source of drinking water. More than two thousand people were displaced when the Quabbin Valley was flooded. Three branches of the Swift River were dammed, and five towns-Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott, and parts of New Salem-were covered with water. The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valley highlights the life and times of these towns from 1754 to 1938, when the inhabitants were told, "All Must Leave." The architectural landscape of the Quabbin Valley at one time included the churches, cemeteries, schoolhouses, post offices, homes, and businesses that made the thriving communities. The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valley presents rare photographs of town life, including images of students at the first Hillside School and Dr. Mary Walker, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and Greenwich summer resident. The images are drawn from the archives of the Swift River Valley Historical Society. Although the towns are gone, their stories are alive and well.

In the tradition of Silent Spring, a modern parable of the American experience and our paradoxical relationship with the natural world. Though it seems a part of the "natural" landscape of New England today, the Swift River Valley reservoir, dam, dike, and nature area was a triumph of civil engineering. It combined forward-looking environmental stewardship and social policy, yet the “little people”—and the four towns in which they lived—got lost along the way. Elisabeth Rosenberg has crafted Before the Flood to be both a modern and a universal story in a time when managed retreat will one day be a reality. Meticulously researched, Before the Flood, is the first narrative book on the incredible history of the Swift River Valley and the origins Quabbin Reservoir. Rosenberg dive into the socioeconomic and psychological aspects of the Swift River Valley’s destruction in order to supply drinking water for the growing populations of Boston and wider Massachusetts. It is as much a human story as the story of water and landscape, and Before the Flood movingly reveals both the stories and the science of the key players and the four flooded towns that were washed forever away.

In April 1938, Swift River Valley residents held a farewell ball to mark the demise of the quintessential New England town of Enfield and its three smaller neighbors, Greenwich, Dana, and Prescott. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sacrificed these three towns to build the Quabbin, a massive reservoir of drinking water for residents of Boston. Three prominent residents attended the somber occasion. Marion Andrews Smith was the last surviving member of an important manufacturing family. Willard "Doc" Segur was the valley's beloved country doctor and town leader. And Edwin Henry Howe was Enfield's postmaster and general store proprietor. They helped build their beloved community for decades, only to watch grief-stricken as it was destroyed by 400 billion gallons of water. Author and historian Elena Palladino recounts the story of these communities as seen through eyes of those who lived there until the end.

The Quabbin Reservoir, in central Massachusetts, was created in 1938 to supply the state's growing population with a source of drinking water. More than two thousand people were displaced when the Quabbin Valley was flooded. Three branches of the Swift River were dammed, and five towns-Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott, and parts of New Salem-were covered with water. The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valley highlights the life and times of these towns from 1754 to 1938, when the inhabitants were told, "All Must Leave." The architectural landscape of the Quabbin Valley at one time included the churches, cemeteries, schoolhouses, post offices, homes, and businesses that made the thriving communities. The Lost Towns of the Quabbin Valley presents rare photographs of town life, including images of students at the first Hillside School and Dr. Mary Walker, a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient and Greenwich summer resident. The images are drawn from the archives of the Swift River Valley Historical Society. Although the towns are gone, their stories are alive and well.

Conuel skillfully provides an overview of the region, a discussion of its people, the reasons for the construction of the reservoir, and the impact of the project on human settlements and natural resources. -- Historical Journal of Massachusetts

Join New York Times bestselling author Carla Neggers with the first book in her fan—favorite Swift River Valley series A wave of hope carries Olivia Frost back to her small New England hometown nestled in the beautiful Swift River Valley. She’s transforming a historic home into an idyllic getaway—picturesque and perfect, if only the absentee owner will fix up the eyesore next door… Dylan McCaffrey’s ramshackle house is an inheritance he never counted on. It also holds the key to a generations-old lost treasure he can’t resist any more than he can resist his new neighbor. Against this breathtaking landscape, Dylan and Olivia pursue long-buried secrets and discover a mystery wrapped in a love story…past and present.

Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, Prescott-- four towns are dismantled slowly while their inhabitants grieve for a history and heritage that has been voted away from them. A family saga based on an actual event which displaced four entire towns in central Massachusetts for the construction of a reservoir to supply water for Boston, where families are divided between those who protest the construction project, those who give up and leave, and those who help to build it.

Winner of the 2021 Rachel Carson Environmental Book Award Winner of the 2021 Maine Literary Award for Nonfiction Finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics John Leonard Prize for Best First Book Finalist for the 2021 New England Society Book Award Finalist for the 2021 New England Independent Booksellers Association Award A New York Times Editors’ Choice and Chicago Tribune top book for 2020 “Mill Town is the book of a lifetime; a deep-drilling, quick-moving, heartbreaking story. Scathing and tender, it lifts often into poetry, but comes down hard when it must. Through it all runs the river: sluggish, ancient, dangerous, freighted with America’s sins.” —Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland Kerri Arsenault grew up in the small, rural town of Mexico, Maine, where for over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that provided jobs for nearly everyone in town, including three generations of her family. Kerri had a happy childhood, but years after she moved away, she realized the price she paid for that childhood. The price everyone paid. The mill, while providing the social and economic cohesion for the community, also contributed to its demise. Mill Town is a book of narrative nonfiction, investigative memoir, and cultural criticism that illuminates the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxics and disease with the central question; Who or what are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?