Quabbin, Yesterday and Today
This exhibition recently was featured at the Massachusetts State House and is now going on the road to libraries in the communities that receive their water from the Quabbin. They are a combination of the Quabbin today, along with historical photos showing life in the Swift River Valley before the Quabbin was built and photos from the construction process.
The contemporary photographs were taken by Belchertown-based nature photographer Ed Comeau. Historical photographs are from the Digital Commonwealth/Massachusetts State Archives and from the Friends of the Quabbin collection. This exhibit was made possible through a grant from the Mass Cultural Council to the Friends of Quabbin.
Click on any image to expand it and then use the right and left arrows to navigate through the collection. Not all of the images may be featured at each library due to space constraints.
Springtime at the Quabbin
Spring in the Quabbin is a beautiful time of renewal. There are 53 gates around the 118-mile shoreline of the Quabbin that provide access into the land and water for hiking, hunting, fishing, snowshoeing and photography. There are twelve towns in the Quabbin Watershed that help provide water to the Quabbin: Athol, Barre, Belchertown, Hardwick, New Salem, Orange, Pelham, Petersham, Phillipston, Shutesbury, Ware and Wendell. The water is naturally filtered by the watershed, requiring
Clearing the Land
To ensure water quality, all structures and vegetation had to be stripped away from the land. Buildings were either demolished or moved to other locations in the valley. Clearing the brush required a large crew of workers and was seen as a patronage opportunity for Boston politicians to hand out jobs to their constituents from the city during the Depression, many of whom had never held an axe in their hands before. Locals referred to these workers as “woodpeckers,” certainly not a term of endearment.
Bobcat Surprise!
Bobcats are shy and elusive creatures that can be found throughout the Quabbin, and seeing one is a special experience. In this case, I had been sitting in the woods for quite some time when I glanced over to my left and saw this beautiful animal. I think it was just as surprised as I was, and I was able to get off just a few photographs before it scampered away.
Alba D. Paige Farm, New Salem
Many of the properties were documented by teams of surveyors and photographers. In each of the photographs a chalkboard with the location and a site schematic would be placed to help catalog the property and buildings. A number of the people involved in this documentation and working on the project were recent graduates from engineering programs at MIT, Northeastern University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute. However, the title “engineer” was reported to be loosely used by others working on the project, whether they held an engineering degree or not.
Keeping Watch
Spotting an eagle in the Quabbin is a beautiful moment. With a wingspan of approximately 7 feet, they can fly at 30 mph and dive at 100 mph, spotting prey 3 miles away. Fish is one of their main staples and eagles mate for life. Eagles were successfully reintroduced into the Quabbin in the 1980’s when two chicks, Betsy and Ross, were raised on the Prescott Peninsula. In 2025 there were five nesting pairs in the Quabbin with a number of single eagles adding to this total. It is believed that most of the eagles, statewide, originated from this introduction program.
Swift River Garage
The Swift River Valley was home to four vibrant communities that no longer exist – Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott. Approximately 2,500 people lived there, working on farms, running stores, gas stations and other businesses. Agriculture was a major part of life as was manufacturing, such as box companies. All of these homes, businesses, and farms were lost when the land was taken by the state.
Sunrise Over the Quabbin
The Quabbin Reservoir is 18 miles long and has a surface area of 24,529 acres, which is equivalent to almost 500 Boston Commons laid side-by-side, or about 80% of the land area of Boston. It provides approximately 200 million gallons per day to 2.7 million people in 53 communities that make up the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority system.
Loaded Muck Cars
A large, 25-mile, tunnel was dug between the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoir to the east with a series of vertical shafts. It was hard work in a punishing environment, but it created many jobs during the Depression. Building the base of the Winsor Dam and Goodnough Dike required working in pressurized caissons and having to go through decompression chambers to avoid getting the bends.
Greeting the Morning
There are known to be at least 20 territorial pairs of Loons in the Quabbin, definitely more, and their haunting cry can often be heard echoing across the water. Loons mate for life, are very strong divers and swimmers, and live on a diet of fish, crayfish and other aquatic animals. The Quabbin has become home to a wide diversity of animal life, including moose, bear, deer, bobcat, eagles, otters, loons and much more.
School’s Out
Life in the Swift River Valley in the late 1800’s was documented by Burt Brooks, a local photographer who was reported to rarely be seen without his camera. His photographs are archived at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. This framed photograph is from the collection of the Friends of the Quabbin and was donated by the late Les Campbell, a Belchertown-based photographer known for his many photographs of the Quabbin Reservoir.
Fly Fishing on the Swift River
The Swift River in Belchertown below the Winsor Dam is known for its excellent fly fishing. The three branches of the Swift River (East, Middle, West) were dammed by the construction of the Winsor Dam and Goodnough Dike. It took seven years from 1939 to 1946 for the Quabbin to fill, creating one of the largest man-made water supplies in the world at the time
Boy Fishing
Life in the Swift River Valley in the late 1800’s was documented by Burt Brooks, a local photographer who was reported to rarely be seen without his camera. His photographs are archived at the University of Massachusetts/Amherst. This framed photograph is from the collection of the Friends of the Quabbin and was donated by the late Les Campbell, a Belchertown-based photographer known for his many photographs of the Quabbin Reservoir.
Map of the MWRA System
The system that brings water from the 12 towns of the Quabbin Region watershed to the metro Boston area is an impressive engineering feat. It required the taking of four towns, Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott. Approximately 2,500 residents from these towns and neighboring ones were forced to move and more than 1,100 buildings were demolished or removed. It provides approximately 200 million gallons per day to 2.7 million people in 53 communities that make up the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority system, primarily in the metro Boston area as well as Chicopee, South Hadley and Wilbraham in Western Massachusetts