Historic Hampshire County

Winsor Dam at the Quabbin Park

List of wildlife seen recently

We've spent a fair amount of time in Amherst and Northampton, both in Hampshire County, so I wanted to  explore something else in Hampshire County.  We did need to go to Amherst (Am -erst, the "h" is silent) to pick up our son, so I looked for a spot where we hadn't been before.  In my newest book, Off the Beaten Path:  A Guide to Unique Places in Massaschusetts,  I came across the Quabbin Reservoir.  The visitor's center was located in Belchertown, which is indeed in Hampshire County.  So we continued south on Route 202 after our Hamilton Orchards lunch to Route 9 East in Belchertown.  Down a bit was a sign for the Quabbin Reservoir Visitor's Center and Winsor Dam.  Heading down a tree-lined driveway, it opened up to a beautiful expanse of water on our left and a visitor's center on the right.  It was another beautiful July day as we overlooked the Quabbin Reservoir.  The history of the Quabbin, which supplies the water to the metropolitan Boston area, is quite fascinating.  Four towns were taken to build the reservoir by damming up Swift River in the 1930's.  The visitor's center had a lot of displays of both the history and the natural history of the area.  A very friendly employee answered my husband's questions about the history of the dam and how it effected the townspeople who were forced to move.  Unfortunately for our visit, we did need to hurry to Amherst, but we bought a hiking map and would like to come back in the fall and explore the cemetery that was moved from the towns as well as some foundations that exist.  Looking at the pictures of what the towns looked like before was really interesting to try and imagine the beautiful town common that was now under water.