Quabbin Reservoir Loop

The full loop around the Quabbin Reservoir: from Athol you go down US-202 through New Salem and Pelham, past the Pelham Overlook, then Belchertown and Quabbin Park, on to Ware and Gilbertville, and up MA-32A to Petersham to close the loop in Athol. It's 64 miles of forest and small towns around the water that covered four towns. Fuel in Athol, Belchertown or Ware. Quabbin Park has vehicle hours, so check the closing time posted at the gate.

The Quabbin is the largest reservoir in Massachusetts and it came at a price. The Swift River Act of 1927 sealed the fate of four towns in the valley, Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott, which were disincorporated at midnight on April 28, 1938. About 2,500 people had to leave, and more than 7,600 graves were moved, most of them to the Quabbin Park Cemetery near Ware. The reservoir was completed in 1939 and took about seven years to fill; it holds some 412 billion gallons. From the Pelham Overlook on US-202 you look east over the basin, and in Quabbin Park, at the south end, the Winsor Dam and its spillway hold the water back.

The top of the Winsor Dam is closed to vehicles but open on foot, and Quabbin Park posts a closing time for cars at its gates, so check it before you go in. Enfield Lookout, named for one of the drowned towns, is an out-and-back detour inside the park. Past Ware, the Ware–Hardwick Covered Bridge of 1886 crosses the river at Gilbertville; it was closed in 2002 and reopened in 2010. On MA-32A, Gate 40 in Petersham is the start of a walk of about 1.8 miles to the site of Dana Common, and the Petersham Country Store, open since 1840, is a good stop before Athol.