Dana, Massachusetts: The Town the Quabbin Reservoir Erased

01From Petition to Incorporation: How Dana Began

Dana was incorporated on February 18, 1801, carved from parts of Greenwich, Hardwick and Petersham. It was named for Judge Francis Dana of the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The petition had been filed as early as 1798 and met opposition at first. Accounts of when the land was first settled disagree. Sources variously give 1676, around 1735 and 1763, and none of them can be confirmed here.

The town measured about four and a half miles by five and a half. It was organized around four villages: North Dana, Doubleday Village, Dana Center and Storrsville. The economy rested on farming and pasturage, supplemented by small-scale manufacturing, including sawmills, gristmills, pianos, and soapstone and granite quarrying. Palm-leaf hat weaving was a cottage industry, especially in North Dana. An 1839 gazetteer records about 70,000 palm-leaf hats made in 1836, valued at $10,500, along with some leather tanned in town.

The Dana post office opened in 1823 and a second, North Dana, followed in 1854. Both closed in 1938.

02Four Villages and a Railroad

The Athol and Enfield Railroad reached North Dana in 1873, and the village became the most prosperous in town. The Crawford and Tyler Mills and the Swift River Box Company, which operated from 1890 to 1935, were among its foremost factories. North Dana had a Grange Hall, a Good Templars hall and a Redmen's Hall, and its hotels included the Mount L Hotel, the North Dana Hotel, Harvey's Inn and Eagle House. The North Dana Dramatic Club staged plays at Good Templar's Hall.

Dana's churches covered Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist and Unitarian congregations. It also had the only Roman Catholic church in the valley.

The census figures trace a slow arc. The town counted 625 people in 1810 and 876 in 1860, the highest figure in the series available. It then drifted down, with 790 in 1900, 599 in 1920 and 595 in 1930. By 1935 the count was 387. The Athol and Enfield line, known locally as the "Rabbit Run," made its last run on June 1, 1935, and the last active factory in the valley closed the same year.

03What Happened to Dana?

The cause was water. Dana was one of four Swift River Valley towns, with Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott, that were disincorporated and leveled for the Quabbin Reservoir. The Swift River Act (Chapter 321 of the Acts of 1927, amended in 1938) governed the dissolution. By 1930, 40,000 acres had been bought, and a majority of Dana Center residents chose to give up their land.

The final weeks were brisk. Dana held its last town meeting on March 7, 1938. On March 28, the remaining unbought land was taken by eminent domain. Most sources give the end date as April 28, 1938, though a notice sent to former town officers states that the towns' corporate existence ceased at midnight on April 27. The difference is a matter of hours. Dana's territory passed entirely to Petersham.

The town's records, covering 1801 to 1938, are held mostly at the Swift River Valley Historical Society in New Salem and described in the UMass Amherst finding aid. Historic New England holds Donald W. Howe's photographs of Dana from 1895 to 1940, an extensive visual record of the town's last decades.

04Can You Visit Dana Today?

Yes, with a walk. Dana Common sits above the reservoir's flow line and was never flooded. The road is closed to vehicles, so the site is reachable only on foot. Visitors should confirm current access with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation, which maintains the land.

Many ghost towns are known for what the reservoir covered. Dana is better known for what it did not cover, and that is why this abandoned Dana site rewards the effort of reaching it.

05What Remains of Dana Today

No buildings remain. The National Park Service describes Dana Common as a preserved archaeological landscape. Its foundations, cellar holes, granite steps, paving fragments, stone fenceposts and walls survive, along with a safe left among the ruins. Specific sites include the blacksmith shop of Moses Marcille and the retaining wall of the Vaughn House.

The Dana Common Historic and Archaeological District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 4, 2013, reference 13000052. The Massachusetts Historical Commission had approved the nomination the previous December.

A stone marker at the site reads: "SITE OF DANA COMMON 1801–1938. To all those who sacrificed their homes and way of life. (Erected by Dana Reunion, 1996)." The marker's wording points to the people who lived here and chose, or were made, to leave.