Scituate Reservoir

Before there was water here, there were villages. Ashland, Kent, South Scituate, Richmond, and the western edge of North Scituate all disappeared under it. Providence bought up twenty three square miles of land, and then crews went to work. Eleven hundred and ninety five buildings came down. That included three hundred and seventy five homes, two hundred and thirty three barns, seven schools, and six mills. Thirty dairy farms were lost, which mostly ended farming as the town knew it. An electric railway that hauled produce, granite, and lumber into Providence was simply abandoned. Thirty six miles of road went under, and only about twenty six miles of new road replaced them. In ten years the town's population fell by nearly a quarter, down to about twenty three hundred people, the fewest since the seventeen eighties. Most families took the compensation and left. The Joslin family, who owned mills in the doomed villages, fought it in court for years and lost. The Knight family sold their property, then set their house on fire rather than walk away from it.