Sarah graduates from college this month -- free time after exams. Time for a history lesson -- a journey back in time.
In 1938, several thousand people from four small Central Mass. towns were relocated to make way for Quabbin Reservoir. One of those towns, Dana, would actually not be flooded by the dam, but was too close to the new shoreline to allow to stay. The houses were razed, but the former Dana Center remains a ghost town, with foundations, monuments and pictures of "how things used to be".
Getting there requires an adventurous spirit. We came in from the south, following the very poor, dirt and rocks Dana-Greenwich Road (as it turns out, a road connecting two non-existent towns is not well maintained). The track back to Gate 40 at 32A is "mostly paved", and is recommended for those not up to several miles of true "off roading". And the Country Store in Petersham provided a wonderful lunch to cap the ride.
We were moved by both the emptiness in Dana Center and the realization that we were the only humans for miles around. Sarah also allowed as we reached good pavement on 32A that she was happy to be back in civilization.
