I don't remember when I first learned that four Central Massachusetts towns were flooded so that I, and 2.5 million other people - mostly in the eastern part of the state - would have enough water to drink.

I just remember hearing that, when the water level of the Quabbin Reservoir gets low enough, you can still see a church steeple. To me, this idea of a little Atlantis in the rural middle of Massachusetts was too intriguing not to investigate.

As it turns out, it's completely untrue. No structure remains under the water. Nothing remains there, save a little bric-a-brac and, unsettlingly, a capped garbage dump. But as I talked with more and more people who used to live in Dana, Greenwich, Prescott and Enfield, I was struck by how emotional some of them still are about losing their homes.

Part of their sadness and anger comes from how the project was carried out by the state government: how little the state consulted or reimbursed the people of the Swift River Valley for their pains, and the violence with which the valley was destroyed.

Enfield, MA, February 1939. The Town Hall stands; the town is gone.
Credit: Massachusetts DCR
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