Quabbin Reservoir Documentary

[@dharuacharya]

Same narrator as on forensic files. What a great voice! I keep thinking he's going to talk about a gruesome crime.

[@kyleharris9748]

I moved to New England 4 years ago & go fishing there all the time! Amazing & very informative. I won't ever look at quabbin the same! Thank you for the great video

[@jacktorrance2633]

People like the mother that owned the hot dog stand are a blessing to us.

[@RickieFareShowe18]

One of the best Quabbin documentaries and so glad I found it on here! The best spot to check out is the old town of Dana. its not mentioned on here because its the only one of the 4 ghost towns that's mainly above water. Theres so much to see; old cellar holes, the starfire plane crash, Dana common, lots of biking and hiking opportunities, some geocaches benchmarks and letterboxes, and my personal favorite: the lost grave stone of Wendall Farnsworth. I highly recommend checking it out; right off 32A at gate 40! My first time was quite an emotional one seeing all that land that people once called home. There are fewer people than I have fingers that once lived here and are still alive. Truly a very special place. Thanks for uploading this!

[@greenwich1754]

Prescott has a majority of it's original average above water as well (hence the name Prescott Peninsula). Most of the eastern and northern sections of Dana are out of water, and it was not part of the original taking, but they realized that having the major manufacturing village of North Dana being flooded, there would not be much of a town left, so it too was included. As a percentage of total acreage of the town, I believe Prescott is the least "flooded", but impounded on 3 sides by water.

[@ebinmaine]

Bicycling is no longer allowed

[@kevinsmith5288]

I was born in Ware and grew up in Palmer. Visited there many times growing up. My father had his own plane, and would tell stories about flying over it in its early stages of being filled and seeing cellar holes. I also have a copy of Quabbin The Lost Valley by Donald Howe. Excellent book, and oh yes, this is an excellent video!

[@greenwich1754]

Donald Howe was my Great Uncle. Unfortunately, I only met him once before he died, and long before I knew the Quabbin story. The truth be known, there are errors in his book, as it is a compilation of people's submissions, not written by him. The info was not "fact checked". An example is that one story refers to "Corbin lake" in Greenwich, which was actually Quabbin Lake. I was told by Walter King, who was born in Greenwich Village in 1914, that my great uncle had working for him someone at WARE radio station (another one of my G. Uncles enterprises) who liked to drink, and was used in the editing/collecting of the info for the book. Hence Corbin Lake, etc.

[@jonlamontagne]

I remember hiking there as a kid and following old railroad tracks that lead right into the water. Beautiful area!

[@ethansalvadore7189]

Was that any chance near Soapstone hill?

[@bricecenter]

I’m curious where, too.

[@RidinCountry]

Beautiful place. I go there weekly. Did a couple "motovlogs" there and Quabbon never gets old!! .. great job on this! ✌️

[@jonathandorr2234]

It’s crazy , that you’ve begun the video, acting like no one knew, or knows, what was left and what was covered. I’ve just had my 50 th anivesary, of living 4 miles, away in Wendell. I spent the 1st 25 years with an entire set of town residents, who had been born and raised, right where I met them. Rupert Goddard, Merle and Gladys Powling, Jack and Donnie, brother’s at the end of the main’ depot rd, who were boys, when the shipp fell apart. Dale Monette, had been the digital photography keeper of the orig. photos from 1929, when they took, a 1st plate photo of the house(to be taken) and the 2 nd of the id of the info. My good friend, watched his grandparents, move out of Dana, to Shutesbury. Everything in our area, is a less than sacred reminder, of what that era , meant to us. I’m 70 , my father and gran dad, big lawyers from Lancaster, Clinton, Sterling,, where the Wachusett, water supply, was formed first by the first push, which is a legendary supply that runs down the Rt. 2 corridor, to bean town. My grandfather, lived in Lancaster, rode the train to Boston every day, never owned a car,ran the biggest law firm in town, from the 30’s on. They both watched the development.

[@turduckenwrath6110]

not even 100 years later and we’re like “omg let’s go diving for this historical lost location!”

[@mattgross7726]

The narrator is Peter Thomas. First heard him on Appalachian Impressions. His narration is like your grandpa is telling you a story.

[@capesquirt]

I thought his voice was familiar. Is he often narrating for Discovery ID forensic type TV shows?

[@co2metal]

Why isn't this on his IMDB?

[@Luis-xr6ec]

Forensic Files

[@BillCesavice]

He also did the voice in the song 19 by Paul Hardcastle.

[@TheAnnaFisher]

Wow, fascinating documentary. Sad for the railroaded families. Glad you shared the story! Thank you.

[@ethanadams8165]

It's always amazing to me how few residents of Massachusetts know about the treasure of Quabbin. It's almost as though anyone living east of Athol has never even heard of it.

[@MrTihaw1]

A wonderful documentary of the quabbin

[@skyblazer9137]

I lived in Worcester all my life and would fish the Quabbin during the summer months. Would rent a boat at gate 64 i think ? In ware. Had a 10hp Mercury engine. So peaceful and quiet. 🤗🤔😎

[@scotsmanofnewengland7713]

Ever catch anything ?

[@elvee7851]

This was an excellent documentary, I really enjoyed it and it was well put together. Cheers to a job well done and to preserving the history that preceded the Quabbin.

[@TedBackus]

The quabbin is one of the few bodies of water, that you can take a boat on, look over the side, & see all the way to the bottom, as easy as looking at your feet. Ive lived near it for decades, & aside from the snakes, its very nice

[@jamesjwalsh]

I imagine that's true in some areas but it must be very deep elsewhere.

[@Joe-oi6eh]

Snakes?! I'm out lol

[@jackl8133]

Why doesn’t our residents in Belchertown receive property tax break for the water Belchertown supplies to Boston?

[@shawnbarry3893]

Great question ❓

[@roynajecki1100]

Belchertown is already receiving $20,000,000 a year in aid from the state, which is over $3,000 per household and is reflected in a reduced property tax.. Volunteer to sit on the town finance committee, attend town meetings, and help make the changes you want.

[@FAHRENHEIT-gj4ng]

Just started watching, hope they explain how they filled the reservoir? Where they diverted the water source from etc?

[@auggieeast]

Yeah this was terrible for those required to move, but metro Boston is the main economic engine for the state, and without enough water, we'd all be much poorer.

[@MichaelLyons-h4i]

My late Uncle John Morra was a water works engineer and worked for a waterworks engineering firm from the late 60s into the 90s trying to fix and come up with solutions to the aqueducts leading out of the impoundment. There are a lot of problems with the aqueduct mainly the one going to Boston. Rip Uncle John 💞

[@bumblebeemoi]

Interesting to hear Harvey Dickinson's very slight "Boston" accent. I grew up in Holyoke (not far away) and there is simply no trace of the accent there. A friend who grew up in Ware had it, but not a severe one. Perhaps the Swift River itself was somehow the "border" of the accent.

[@EyeonthePrize247]

I live in Central Mass and we most definitely have a good trace of the accent. A watered down version albeit.

[@EyeonthePrize247]

Doesn’t this guy narrate Forensic Files, too?

[@scotsmanofnewengland7713]

Yes

[@CorbinAce]

I remember when I was a kid Boston had the greatest drinking water 75 years ago. It tasted great and was cold right from the faucet. Massachusetts ruined it by adding Chlorine. When I was little me and my father used to fish there.

[@ryanb1314]

Forensic files guy my favorite narrator Peter Thomas I believe talking about my favorite fishing hole

[@richardboyle3366]

My father who was born in Spfld. in 1905 had about 6 photos of N. Dana I donated to the Quabbin museum the one I remember was the 1 garage fire dept. with a bell on the roof...

[@Mike-dy8sj]

I grew up in Palmer and spent every summer at the quabbin rolling down the damn. There was an old myth that there was a hidden military base under the quabbin. There were even myths that there are nuclear missile silos hidden there.

[@myronchamberlain7734]

How many lives were ruined by the state to build this

[@roynajecki1100]

And compare that to how many millions of lives in the Boston metro area were improved by having clean drinking water.

[@jamesjwalsh]

Destroying a town to make way for a reservoir is the back story in the great movie "Deliverance".

[@leverettrailfan5414]

What makes me particularly sad, isn’t just that you can’t go there- but that almost nothing is left. What remained, underwater, is scarcely anything better than what remains above. I’ve always been a train lerson, since my early childhood, and I often wonder about what the railroad would have been like today. A direct route, from Athol, to Springfield, would have meant that trains no longer needed to be routed through the busy freight yard in East Deerfield, Massachusetts, which is right at the center of the Former Boston & Maine railroad, where the line’s major north-south, and east-west routes crossed eachother. The sixe of today’s trains, is much greater than they were then. It is unlikely that the Boston & Maine would have run this line, as it was in the hands of the Boston & Albany at the time of abandonment. The B&A would ultimately be leased by the New York Central system, which in turn would be absorbed into Penn Central around the start of the ‘60s, which would collapse around the end of the decade. The govornment stepped in, and reorganized it as ‘Conrail’, which today, is no more, having been divided and sold off to today’s railroad companies, Norfolk Southern, and CSX Transportation. If the ‘Rabbit’ were still running today, and followed these changes of hands, then it would be part of the CSX system. The line would most likely have little to no buisness along the line, depending on how many mills were still active, and still shipping by rail. It would most likely be used as a faster route, to transport freight between springfield, and points east and west, along the former B&M system, now operated by Pan Am Railways, a rebranding of the former “Guilford Rail System”. Or perhaps not. Look at the Massachusetts Central Railroad. A little short line railroad, which toils daily, monday through friday, up and down the ware river valley, between Palmer, where it meets CSX and the New England Central, and South Barre, where freight that must travel further than the reaches of the rails, is transloaded to trucks for the final step in delivery. This line travels along an old, and windy route, something that appears, in tradjectory and function, as though it would have been abandoned decades ago. And yet, it is nothing of the sort. This indipendant line regularly sees trains, and the train length varies greatly, one day three cars, the next day, twenty. Despite only having a connection with other railroads at one end of the line, this little railroad continues to prosper. It assumed operations, after the Boston & Maine decided to leave it. Perhaps the swift river valley would have recieved a simmilar fate, if conditions were right. Who can say? We can never know. The history that would tell this tale to us all, is one who’s opportunity vanished in the face of one of the most shocking govornment projects New England has experienced.

[@squidward5804]

You’ve got a record for biggest and longest comment

[@sherriworley3079]

@@squidward5804 please See, this is valuable insight

[@attentive.affairsyt9999]

My great grandfather dwight Cooley lived there in the town of Dana

[@donnebes9421]

Colin Brow I had relatives there too.

[@greenwich1754]

@zighm No connection, to my knowledge.

[@joebethune5330]

I spent 15 yesterday in petersham, met plenty of cooleys

[@doreenbooth4944]

Not everything was torn down when i was a kid i remember walking down gate 22 across wooden bridges i remember walking to the waters edge to get drift wood seeing utilitie poles and lines and a two story bulding standing deep in the water the water up too the 2nd floor but the top of the building still stood what a disgrace to the towns and people who lived there lost their lives and their property not everything was removed yet they lie and say they were shame on boston

[@beefsoda1]

Great documentary. Thanks

[@CPez]

So so So Happy That this Documentary was done. West an AWFUL tragedy. Telling townspeople with barely any technology that because if the City Folk, Far away (Especially in those days), your towns have to be completely destroyed for them. Wow. This was REALLY the best option?

[@SilhouetteJudas]

“Enfield will never have a bicentennial celebration” I wish I could’ve seen these towns, that there were still people living there

[@karenlindsey5988]

At 25:27 there is a face on the chimney!! I had to go back and do a double check. ...but Yup! It's there all right!

[@Mtbker456]

Karen Lindsey Weird, almost looks like an Alien.

[@doreenbooth4944]

Kinda creepy i thought

[@squidward5804]

What the frick your right

[@willisleonard2135]

Sad that tombstones still remain......gotta wonder what else remains beneath the water.....sad

[@greenwich1754]

Jimmy Hoffa?

[@domenicochelmsford]

This is great. Domenic mcfarlin

[@ericlakota1847]

My granpa lived and moved out of quabbin it was in the depreshion so they where all broke so geting money for the land at the time was good and of corse some dident want to go I live in belchertown next town to quabbin we have a common in center of town granpa worked building the place pushing roller across the dam

[@freemarketjoe9869]

There is a very rare rattlesnake a DRC emoyee told me about living on one of the quabbin islands. it is indigenous to the area and has the distinction of having no rattle on the end of its tail. Local residents have been killing them on sight, but it is now illegal since it is now protected. The state says the snake is quarrentteed on an island, but the residents say that is nonsense because the island has a causeway, connecting to the mainland. The state must assume the snakes will obey the 'stay out' signed posted on the connector and not migrate off the island for fear of substantial fines.

[@lorincowell6944]

Not water for 'People,' but for Labor Resources.

[@DanielPerez-ee3wp]

Is there structure still remaining?

[@greenwich1754]

Only the remains of the DUgmar clubhouse. The stone walls minus the roof are standing on Curtis Island.

[@awesome220]

any animals on those islands?

[@chukandsarahpratt]

there are many eagles there, golden and bald... there have been cougar sightings as well

[@ericlakota6512]

You see a pic of a man on ice wen he talks of frozen lakes. Thats a pic of old bridge on swift the sight is still their saw it in a book. Its of river rd id dave cusacks backyard right up from the zipline on the swift

[@squidward5804]

21:59 I know that guy he sells coins at rietta ranch in hubberstand mass!

[@kingspuppet3265]

I'm from Boston and as I was watching this I was chewing on ice from the soda I am drinking...ice that I made from the sink...the sink connected to this water supply. I literally spit out the ice and dumped the rest of it. I was just chewing on old gas station and basement water! Spit it out just as they were talking about how cloudy the water is due to "micro-organisms." Then they discovered the graveyard. If they lied about moving ALL the stones, you know they most likely never removed the bodies..Great...I'm drinking dead people... I'm gonna go barf now. Hahahaha

[@bryantbressette7397]

Kings Puppet The water is all filtered with ultraviolet light before getting to boston

[@jjg5365]

Boston- actually all Massachusetts tap water have some of the most stringent government standards in the world. so your tap water is safe to drink. read more here: www.mass.gov/service-details/safe-drinking-water-in-massachusetts

[@phantasmtheater6015]

Considering that the Boston Lefty Establishment screwed over the people of the Quabbin region to get their drinking water, yeah.....that glass of filth is the least of your worries. Karma's a bitch.

[@Luis-xr6ec]

Phantasm Theater 😂😂😂

[@bruh-bd1tr]

Isn't this where we get our water?

[@wlavs87]

"T" Spotter I've pee'd in it.

[@dirtymikentheboyz5935]

I literally shat in this place

[@CorbinAce]

@@dirtymikentheboyz5935 You just reminded me. When my father and I were fishing there my mother rinsed my baby brothers diaper in the water. When we told her what she had done she wanted to go home. LOL

[@greenwich1754]

Well, ultimately it's God.

[@peterunnels3311]

Imagine if they tried to pull this today.

[@briansmith-l1q]

i've seen a book,,, pictures and info, older book, one picture was of a granite structure, slate roof,, all around that , all structures were torn down,,, my thought was they didn't care, cause it was stone, that they left it there, i don't know.

[@TheHonestPeanut]

An even bigger crime against the people than the big dig.

[@MrUSSAM]

Nice to know that Boston's water supply has a dump within it."Small Impact?" sure

[@chukandsarahpratt]

good catch.... that's why the water tastes like garbage.... lol

[@MrUSSAM]

I really enjoyed the video,informative,so thanks for posting !..Whoever wrote the narrative needs a history refresher "New England's Underwater Pompeii"? not even close to the same situation..

[@greenwich1754]

Hey Chuckles - the best tasting water in Mass. Largest untreated water source in Mass.

[@greenwich1754]

@Uncle U.S. Sam - Nice to know that they built a reservoir on top of a region where people lived, loved, worked & died, not knowing one day the state would take their lives & lively hood from them. There's a dump in the reservoir? They should have built a reservoir in another place, in my opinion. Evil people just making a living, and "Hey, guess what, we want to flood your land & kick you out, and blame you for any contamination to boot!"

[@phantasmtheater6015]

Considering how the Boston Lefties screwed people over in the Quabbin region to get the reservoir, yeah. They can have a dump in their drink.

[@nickcraig2417]

I think we should flood boston and get the real swift river back probably was probably amazing place to fish now it's just fucking farm fish lord chist have mercy on us we ruin the natural world

[@sashahobbie2258]

interesting

[@VincentMcbride-y8d]

Peter Thomas.

[@roynajecki1100]

Congratulations. You are the tenth commenter to state that.

[@nordz1498]

It’s a nice fishing spot though 😂

[@celestemckenna-lagrant162]

I live here

[@jeremytravis360]

It's a shame that people did not think about the future environmental impact when they flooded the valley. They could have at least removed all the lead.

[@greenwich1754]

And the populous of Boston and its environs have been impacted how? Oh wait, they keep electing blue - perhaps you are right.

[@EyeonthePrize247]

@@greenwich1754 You do realize that blue doesn’t necessarily refer to ultra liberal left and “snowflakes” right? Massachusetts is mostly moderate plus we have a Republican governor.

[@greenwich1754]

@@EyeonthePrize247 Republican in name only (Rino). He governs much more as a Democrat - that's why this state (mostly democrat) likes him so much.

[@karaDee2363]

@@greenwich1754 I can't think of one red-state in this country that is prosperous and beneficial to the people for the greater good. So thank God Massachusetts is a blue state

[@greenwich1754]

@@karaDee2363 I'm not sure about that. Texas and Florida immediately come to mind. Even AOC went to Florida. Never here any problems with places like Wyoming & Montana. I believe they are red. Seems like most of the violence and crime are in blue states.

[@petergrant2331]

Most of it you can't even see, got a friend who works for DCR mass sucks

[@Christians_outdoors]

Me who lives only 43 minutes away 💪🏻

[@Joe-oi6eh]

You should visit the Ukraine, I hear it's lovely

[@peterunnels3311]

P