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.

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

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.

A young girl watches as her home and town are moved to create a reservoir in Massachusetts.

This invaluable resource provides a detailed guide to the Indian place names of New England, alongside their meanings and significance. Edited by Charles Huden and published by the Museum of the American Indian, this book sheds light on the cultural heritage of the region's indigenous peoples. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.