Before the Flood: Destruction, Community, and Survival in the Drowned Towns of the Quabbin

by Elisabeth C. Rosenberg

In the tradition of Silent Spring, a modern parable of the American experience and our paradoxical relationship with the natural world.

Though it seems a part of the "natural" landscape of New England today, the Swift River Valley reservoir, dam, dike, and nature area was a triumph of civil engineering. It combined forward-looking environmental stewardship and social policy, yet the “little people”—and the four towns in which they lived—got lost along the way. Elisabeth Rosenberg has crafted Before the Flood to be both a modern and a universal story in a time when managed retreat will one day be a reality.

Meticulously researched, Before the Flood , is the first narrative book on the incredible history of the Swift River Valley and the origins Quabbin Reservoir. Rosenberg dive into the socioeconomic and psychological aspects of the Swift River Valley’s destruction in order to supply drinking water for the growing populations of Boston and wider Massachusetts.

It is as much a human story as the story of water and landscape, and Before the Flood movingly reveals both the stories and the science of the key players and the four flooded towns that were washed forever away.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

336 pages, Hardcover

Published August 3, 2021

Reviews

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Quabbin Reservoir displaced thousands of people from their generational homes and wiped four Massachusetts towns from the map forever. Rosenberg's focus is on the shared community that developed over multiple decades between the soon to be displaced Swift River Valley residents and the engineers who came to survey and forever change the land. Yes, there was conflict at first. Later, those engineers who came to western Massachusetts as fresh college graduates eventually married, started families, and became part of the fabric of the same communities they were engineering into oblivion. Because the more general history is only quickly touched upon, this book is recommended for those already familiar with the Quabbin project and the dissolution of the towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

we don’t really think about where our water comes from and how finite and precious water sources can be. in high school, I recall my friend pointing out a man made water source in my town (Acton, Mass) which was her town’s (Concord) water supply

this is a good history of the Quabbin reservoir
a slow read, lots of info and details. could’ve used better editing and would’ve liked more narrative nonfiction

one hundred years ago, entire towns had to be destroyed and the people located in order to build this water source for Boston/Cambridge area.

*read for my library book club

“The Quabbin was an engineering marvel for its time, and the men who worked on it’s construction believed in both its technical wonder and its utility, even though they had to look away when they saw how the local communities were being affected.
People in power still look away, or find ways to justify destruction and displacement, just as the members of the state committee tasked with finding more water for Boston claimed that the valley— land and people—were stony and inhospitable in progress. Despite better community organizing, as well as better communications and better environmental studies, and despite a heightened awareness of the effects of community destruction, areas worldwide and even in the U.S. are being sacrificed because of water —through flooding, drought, dams and other changes in the land.”

“Because many engineers did or at least supervised hard manual labor along with the hourly wage laborers, they also wore practical, unfussy clothes. But engineers also dressed distinctly differently than laborers. They wore chinos and sweaters, with ties for office work instead of overalls or coveralls, and they wore fedoras instead of caps. So while it was possible to identify an engineer from his clothing and probably his way of speaking, the differences between valley natives and engineers were not nearly as great as the differences between the engineers and the pinstripe-suited, homburg-hatted, topcoat-wearing members of the Commission, who swooped into the valley, criticized or praised, and fled again for the safety of Boston.”

[Grommit · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars = a good read.
4 or 5 stars if you live nearby.
This story has been told several times before...the four towns, complete with schools, churches, stores, factories, railroad, history, and farms, were removed to create a drinking water reservoir to serve the needs of Boston and surrounding towns. Such repetition is expected in a project that is nearing its 100th anniversary. This book provides extra focus on the lives of those removed by the project, and those who labored on mundane tasks (removing all bushes and trees) and on engineering tasks (testing soils, digging tunnels, etc). There is an emphasis on the interactions between residents and workers.
The book provides several photos and maps, which are essential for understanding where the 4 towns were.
Nearby? take a day and walk one of the paths through the watershed. Quabbin fans will point out the cellars marking where homes were. The Dana common is recommended. It is in the watershed, but well above the waterline. And check the Visitor's center...loads of photos.

[Michael Seward · Rating 5 out of 5]

For about 15 years I lived on the Swift River, south of Quabbin Reservoir. The Lost Towns of Quabbin still remain in consciousness of the community. My office in Belchertown had pictures of the valley. I saw Bob Wilder, who grew up in one of the towns give a talk about life in the Swift River Valley. Famous local photographer Les Campbell developed old photos from those towns, as well, and they were on display at Clapp Memorial Library. I also attended several Memorial Day services at Quabbin Park Cemetery, where the cemeteries of the lost towns were relocated. I always found it to be a poignant ceremony, a testament to the community’s dedication to memorializing those who paid the last full measure of devotion from towns that no longer exist. This book filled in a lot of blanks of this significant and unjust chapter of local history. I even dug deeper in the endnotes to find old photos, not duplicated in the book.

[Andrew Kapko-Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is tricky to rate because the book wasn't quite what I expected or wanted, but I think it achieves the author's goal reasonably well. It is focused on slices of life of people living in the towns that became the reservoir, almost entirely skipping the engineering or political details involved in its building - which is what I was more interested in learning about.

That said, it was still interesting to read perspectives of people going through life in what sounds like a challenging place to live, especially in the later years as the towns completely closed down.

[Laurel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how this book focused on the individuals and communities of the towns that were destroyed when the Quabbin was built. The author does a good job describing the frustration and heartbreak of people losing their homes and livelihoods so Boston could have a never ending supply of fresh water. The Quabbin is beautiful and an engineering masterpiece but an air of melancholy still lingers over the valley.

[Jason Mellin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reads like a scrapbook of one of the most fascinating engineering projects of the 20th century in the U.S. Technical, thorough, and very human. Gripping! Full of anecdotes that paint a picture of a world that isn't there anymore. Worth visiting Quabbin if you can, especially once you know its history.

[KS · Rating 1 out of 5]

Boring, boring, boring. I was really excited about reading this book and found it a slog to get thru. Seems like she threw a couple ideas together and hoped for the best. I really got little out of the book.
spend your time and money elsewhere. The title is much better than the book.

[Victoria Hosman · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay, but by the end, I was ready for it to be over. I can kind of relate to this book in some ways because I live in an area where a dam was built and there’s a lot of history in the area - so I can imagine the people when the dam was built being in a similar situation.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good topic, very bad writing style. Could not finish.

[Joe Shoenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well done, very readable.

[Tommy Harte · Rating 5 out of 5]

WMHC

[Bo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for a college English course called "Drowned Towns." The history is interesting and heartbreaking in equal measure, but Rosenberg's writing is dreadfully boring.

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the concept and definitely learned some things. Not something that really sucked me in.