Hiking in Dana

Chilly hike to see the Quabbin and whatever was left of the town.

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Dana is one of four Massachusetts towns emptied in the 1930’s for the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir. 
This 412 billion gallon body of water (38 square miles) supplies fresh water to Boston (65 miles away), as well as numerous other communities, supporting over 2.5 million people!
Two damns were built to create the reservoir, then flooding the valley where these four towns previously stood.

Dana is not completely underwater and is managed by DCR (MA Dept of Conservation and Recreation), with a few trails and markers to visit where the town once was.  Brenda heard about the crash site of an F-49 Starfire in Dana but we missed the trail to see that.

We hiked about 3.5 along the road from the parking lot, past the old Dana Common, and to the Quabbin.  The Common has a number of signposts with photos of the buildings that stood there, only the stone cellars remaining.   This is Pottapaug Pond, about midway between the Common and the Reservoir.

The hiking “trails” are actually roads, and after repeatedly re-freezing the footing can be pretty slippery!  

 

A commemorative stone on the old Dana Common

A view of (a small fraction of!) the Quabbin Reservoir.

 

 

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