Quabbin Reservoir

October 13, 2019 Sunny

Quabbin Reservoir is the largest inland body of water in Massachusetts, and serves over 3 million people in Boston and other suburbs. It holds about 412 billion gallons and has an area of nearly 39 square miles.

We drove the length of it from north to south, catching glimpses from the mountainous terrain just west as we came down US 202, on our way to the Quabbin Visitor Center at the south tip of the reservoir.

Although the visitor center is small, there are a few interesting exhibits covering the history of the reservoir as well as short photo albums showing black and white pictures of the towns that were flooded and lost to history as part of reservoir expansion in the 1930’s.

For us, a key attraction was viewing the reservoir and walking across the enormous earthen Winsor Dam, built around 1940. It’s one of the largest such dams in the Eastern U.S. and is roughly 1/2 mile across.

As you walk across, on one side is the water and on the other, a steep grass hill flowing down into forest below, seen below.

Reaching the other side you find another marker for the dam.

If you continue just a little farther past the dam you reach an interesting bridge with beautiful views of the Quabbin Reservoir Spillway far below.

On our way back, we decided to walk along the base of the dam and then run up the side to the top. The kids loved running zigzagging up and down the dam a few times, and were really worn out after a few runs. Other kids joined them – it was irresistible.

Although swimming and boating are not allowed, Quabbin is a great place for hiking and biking. Be sure to stop by the visitor center and dam to appreciate the history and scale of the engineering work that built out the reservoir.

A scenic reservoir with a special earthen dam and great views.
Running up and down the big dam was so much fun fir the kids!
I ran up and down the hill ’till I couldn’t no more. I also saw small red beetles with black dots on them, so that was pretty epic.
I really liked running up and down the big hill
I liked running down the hill. I like the bridge.