Clinton to Sterling via Campground Road

The Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com Road Trip: Clinton to Sterling via Campground Road From Boylston Street at the Dam this road makes a long slow descent to valley floor near the Hastings group, winds through the valley into Boylston past the South Clinton Station and Sawyer’s Mills before climbing to the rim above the… Continue reading Clinton to Sterling via Campground Road

Boylston to Sterling via Chace Hill Road

The Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com Road Trip: Boylston to Sterling via Chace Hill Road This road, Old Main Street, leaves the highway about a mile north of Boylston and travels on high ground as far as Tahanto Regional High School before descending to Sawyer’s Mills village (sometimes called Boylston Centre) on the valley floor,… Continue reading Boylston to Sterling via Chace Hill Road

Boylston to Sterling via Scar Hill Road

The Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com Road Trip: Boylston to Sterling via Scar Hill Road The road quickly descends from the Pine Grove Cemetery to the valley floor in Boylston, immediately crossing the Nashua River at Scar Bridge and the valley floor before rising once again to the high rim on the West Boylston side.… Continue reading Boylston to Sterling via Scar Hill Road

Clinton to Oakdale

The Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com Road Trip: Clinton to Oakdale This long route follows a succession of roads starting in Clinton with South Main Street, passes Gate 40, and turns to the right onto the cemetery road, or causeway, between Sandy Pond and Coachlace pond. Then left at South Meadow Road for a mile… Continue reading Clinton to Oakdale

Roads of the Valley

The Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com The Roads of the Valley 1895 Roads 1902 Roads “You can’t get there from here!” Most people today are familiar with size of the Wachusett Reservoir and can easily navigate around it using the various highways that connect the towns around its shoreline – State Routes 70 in Boylston,… Continue reading Roads of the Valley

Domenic Santangelo

Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com Domenic Santangelo A human interest story and the reason we do this research. In my studies of the labor situation at the Dam I was reading a 1989 article written by historian Jill Lepore titled “Resistance Reform and Repression Italian Immigrant Laborers in Clinton MA 1896-1906”. In Footnote #54 she… Continue reading Domenic Santangelo

Clinton Sewerage Treatment Plant

Wachusett Dam & Reservoir beforetherewasadam.com The Clinton Sewerage Treatment Plant The often overlooked  story of the Wachusett Dam & Reservoir Project is the great benefit the town of Clinton received as a result of the taking of the waters of the Nashua River. Until that time the growing town had no sewerage treatment facility and… Continue reading Clinton Sewerage Treatment Plant

The Bridge at West Street

The Wachusett Dam & Resrvoir beforetherewasadam.com The Bridge at West Street (B&M Bridge #140) The Bridge at West Street, Berlin (B&M #140) Photo Courtesy Berlin Historical Commission The Massachusetts Central Railroad (later, the Central Division of the Boston & Maine Railroad) was built to run from Boston to Oakdale and, ultimately, Jefferson, Mass.  Along the… Continue reading The Bridge at West Street

The Construction Railway

Wachusett Dam & Reservoir Before There was a Dam The Construction Railway A Mountain of Dirt Not for nothing is it called the world’s largest hand dug reservoir. The Wachusett Reservoir covered about seven square miles of mostly farmland. To preserve the purity of the water to be stored within it, an average of one… Continue reading The Construction Railway