We have much to
discover in our new area especially now with warmer weather. So we started with
the Quabbin Reservoir - since we live in one of the bordering towns. About 40% of
Massachusetts
gets its water from “the Quabbin.” Massachusetts
claims that the Quabbin is “the largest man-made reservoir in the world devoted
solely to water supply.”* (There’s always a way to claim a superlative.)
Quabbin
Park
Most of the 118 miles of shoreline are inaccessible. The
most popular section and only access by car is Quabbin Park
(a park on the southeast shore of the reservoir), which, lucky for us,
straddles our town.
Here’s a map of the park.
Quabbin
Park has a visitor
center, trails and an observation tower, as well as, much of the major
infrastructure of the reservoir: Winsor Dam, Goodnough Dike, and the Quabbin
Spillway.
Winsor Dam
One day when Carrie visited we saw the dam and observation
tower and hiked around the area.
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| Carrie & Bill at the Quabbin |
Observation
Tower
It was a nice clear day to go to the tower.
 |
| Bill & Carrie near the Observation Tower |
The Goodnough Dike
The park opens daily, but one icy day we found the gates
closed. So we walked about a mile in on the park road to the dike and walked
the dike loop (the purple route in the map above). A salt truck passed us, so
we weren’t surprised when we returned to find the gates opened.
 |
| Barbara and an icy Quabbin. |
 |
| the dike |
 |
| Bill looking across the dike |
Bill sometimes takes this route for his daily walk – 3.6
miles.
 |
| Bill walking along the dike |
We’ll tell you more about the Quabbin in future posts.
* mwra.state.ma.us
